NYC Looks To Increase Crosstown Bike Lanes After Citi Bike Crash

CHELSEA, NY — The city's transportation department is developing plans to add crosstown bike paths in Manhattan after a cyclist was seriously injured last week in Chelsea.

A truck slammed into a woman riding a Citi Bike near 30th Street and Seventh Avenue on Sept. 11, leaving blood on the street and the bike crumpled near the intersection. Now, city transportation officials have committed to developing plans for "crosstown bike route proposals," one of the first such promises from the department after repeated requests from cycling activists. DNAinfo was first to report that the plans.

"We are actively developing a series of crosstown bike route proposals and will be coming to the community with more details in the near future," a department spokesperson confirmed to Patch in an email. The department did not release additional details about the proposals.

This promise represents a change in direction for the city's transportation officials, who earlier this year refrained from directly committing to adding crosstown routes in Manhattan. At a community meeting in June, outraged Chelsea cyclists demanded more crosstown protected bike lanes, among other measures, after two cyclists were killed within days of each other while biking in the neighborhood.

Colleen Chattergoon, a DOT representative present at the meeting, said at the time that the department was "looking at" requests for more cross-town bike lanes, but refrained from promising that they would be added.

The city has steadily increased the number of designated bike lanes and protected bike lanes in the last several years as part of a number of initiatives rolled out under Vision Zero, Mayor Bill de Blasio's push to drastically reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Last year, 18 cyclists were killed in traffic crashes New York City, according to Vision Zero data. At least 11 cyclists have died citywide as of July 31, according to the most recent data. As part of the initiative's infrastructure upgrades, major corridors like Fifth and Seventh avenues in Manhattan are getting protected bike lanes later this year. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Council Member Corey Johnson, who represents Chelsea in City Council, said after last week's crash that a proposal for crosstown protected bike lanes was "expected soon." Johnson met earlier this summer with police and transit officials after the June cyclist deaths in his district, one of which happened in a crosstown street.

Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer has also voiced her support for adding more crosstown lanes.

"This is a no-brainer and long overdue," Brewer wrote of crosstown protected lanes in an op-ed. "I am urging the Department of Transportation to embark on a study of Manhattan’s crosstown streets to determine which could best accommodate protected, river-to-river bike lanes with the least amount of disturbance to traffic flows."

Image credit: Adam Nichols / Patch