Transportation Activists Demand More Bike Lanes After Four Cyclists' Deaths

CHELSEA, NY — Cycling activists in New York City are calling for more bike lanes in the wake of four cyclists' deaths, all of whom were fatally struck by cars or buses while they rode in city streets last month.

Transportation Alternatives, the major urban transportation advocacy group, called on the city's transportation department to drastically step up its rollout of protected bike lanes. The group's latest plea comes after the death of Ronald James Burke, a cyclist who was killed in a hit-and-run collision in Bushwick on Friday, police said. Burke's death was the latest in a number of high-profile cycling deaths in recent weeks. Two cyclists were fatally struck by buses in Chelsea within days of each other, and another teenage cyclist was fatally wounded while riding in Midtown Manhattan. (Want more local news? Sign up here for free news alerts and neighborhood updates from Patch.)

Transportation Alternatives says the city' plan to rollout more protected bike lanes throughout the city isn't moving quickly enough, or adding enough protected lanes to accommodate the city's biking population.

"What the deaths of these four New Yorkers have in common is that they could have been prevented," Transportation Alternatives said in a statement. "Burke, Carr, Mamoukakis, and Hanegby died for want of protected bike lanes for which the funding is present, but the political will to quickly install them and push back against NIMBY-style complaints about loss of parking is not."

The group's points to Mayor Bill de Blasio's public safety initiative, Vision Zero, which is working to drastically reduce the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries. The multi-agency project has coincided with a dip in pedestrian fatalities, but cycling deaths have fluctuated since Vision Zero launched in 2014. Last year, 18 cyclists were killed on New York City streets, compared to 14 in 2015 and 20 in 2014.

As part of Vision Zero, the city has added more than 30 miles of protected bike lanes since 2014. This year, the city is set to add another 18 miles pro protected bike lanes, a DOT spokesperson told Patch in an email.

These additions, activists say, are not enough, and at the current rate of bike lane expansion "senseless deaths will continue," Transportation Alternatives said in a statement.

This post has been updated with information from the Department of Transportation.

Lead image via Shutterstock.