Crosstown Bike Lanes Are Coming To 26th And 29th Streets: City

CHELSEA, NY — The city says it plans to build two crosstown bike lanes in Chelsea in the wake of multiple cycling fatalities in the neighborhood last year.

The city's transportation department released plans on Wednesday for two, one-way protected bike lanes in Chelsea: An eastbound lane on 26th Street and a westbound lane on 29th Street.

The plans for crosstown bike lanes were finalized this year in the wake of multiple cycling fatalities in the Chelsea neighborhood in 2017. In June, 36-year-old Dan Hanegby died while riding a Citi Bike on West 26th Street, where the city now plans to install a protected bike lane. Hanegby and a coach bus were both traveling eastbound on the street, between Eighth and Seventh Avenues, when the bus and the the Citi Bike collided, at which point Hanegby fell to the ground and was crushed by the bus, police said at the time.

Days later, Michael Mamoukakis was hit and killed by a bus while biking near the intersection of West 29th Street and Seventh Avenue.

In the wake of these and other cycling fatalities, activists demanded additional protected bike lanes, particularly crosstown bike lanes, from the city's transportation department.

"We're thrilled to see the New York City Department of Transportation's plans to bring protected bike lanes to crosstown streets in Manhattan,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. "This decision shows that city leaders have been paying attention not just to the demands of everyday cyclists, but also to the data which show that protected bike lanes save lives."

The city's transportation department is also planning additional crosstown lanes for Midtown. The bike lanes will be south of Central Park in the 50s, but the exact streets are still to be determined.

Amid a dip in traffic fatalities throughout the city last year, the number of cyclists killed on the road increased in 2017. City data shows that 23 cyclists died in collisions last year, compared to 18 in 2016. In total, all traffic-related deaths have decreased from 299 deaths in 2013 to 214 deaths last year.

"We were heartened by the progress we made with Vision Zero in New York City during 2017, the safest-ever year on our city’s streets," transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement. "However, the increase in cyclist fatalities indicates just how much work we still have to do."

The new bike lanes the city is proposing are in addition to other bike lanes being added to Manhattan before the L train shutdown in 2019. The city's transportation department said that a two-way protected bike lane would be added on 13th Street to help curb the anticipated influx of new cyclists once the L train stops running.

Other bike lanes are also planed for streets in the East 20s to connect to a new East River ferry service.

The city will begin presenting its plans for crosstown bike lanes at tonight's transportation committee meeting for Community Board 4. If the plans move forward, the bike lanes would likely be added in 2019, according to the city.

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