New Bike Lanes, Crosswalks Planned for Brooklyn's Busy Jay Street

A portion of the Jay Street bike lane proposal. Image courtesy of the Department of Transportation

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, NY — The Department of Transportation (DOT) received key community approval Tuesday night for its plans to build new protected bike lanes along the nearly mile-long stretch of Jay Street that runs from Sands Street to Schermerhorn Street.

Under the plan, bike lanes on both sides of Jay Street would be separated (or "protected") from car traffic by parking lanes running alongside them.

In addition, pedestrian crossings along Jay would be variously re-marked, shortened, fattened and upgraded to include "painted pedestrian safety islands."

The proposal was presented to a roomful of local leaders and transit activists Tuesday night by Hayes Lord, director of the DOT's bike program, and voted on by members of Community Board 2's Transportation and Public Safety subcommittee.

Click here to read the DOT's full proposal for bike lanes on Jay Street between Schermerhorn St. and Sands St.

The DOT also proposed creating a single, protected, two-way bike lane on Jay Street running between York Street and Prospect Street.

Click here to read the DOT's full proposal for bike lanes Jay Street between York Street and Prospect Street.

(FYI: The tiny, awkward stretch of Jay Street that runs between Prospect and Schemerhorn, kind of under/adjacent to the Manhattan Bridge, would not get its own bike lanes under the two-pronged proposal.)

Overall, the changes would only result in the loss of eight parking spaces, according to Lord.

At night's end Tuesday, the CB2 subcommittee approved the proposal for Jay between York and Prospect, as well as between Fulton and Sands.

However, committee members excluded two areas they said needed further study: 1) the two-block stretch of Jay Street between Shermerhorn and Fulton, and 2) the immediate vicinity of the Manhattan Bridge's pedestrian entrance near Nassau Street.

The DOT had proposed adding a pedestrian walkway across Jay Street at that location. Various committee members, however, worried that cars exiting the bridge might be likely to strike pedestrians in the walkway.

A DOT spokeswoman said Wednesday that the department would reconsider these two areas of concern and return to the subcommittee with a revised proposal. It's not clear exactly when the full board will vote on the matter; however, the DOT is pushing for new lanes on Jay Street by summer.

Lord stressed at the meeting that this part of Jay Street is in desperate need of a makeover. The corridor is hamstrung by chronic red-light running, he said, as well as double parking and illegal U-turns.

Between 2010 and 2014, more than 200 traffic-related injuries and one fatality were reported on Jay Street, according to statistics presented by Lord.

Bike traffic now makes up 34 percent of Jay Street's total traffic during peak hours, he said.

Numerous residents who commute to work via bicycle attended the meeting. They expressed anger about rampant, seemingly unregulated parking abuses they said currently endanger cyclists up and down the busy thoroughfare.

Subcommittee co-chair Sidney Meyer said that even if the DOT's new bike-lane plan goes into effect, it will be ineffective if local drivers — and traffic cops — continue to ignore the law.

Christopher DeVito, another subcommittee member, argued, however, that it would be wrong to vote down positive changes because of longtime enforcement challenges.

At Tuesday's meeting, Councilman Steve Levin — who represents Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill and parts of Bed-Stuy — called the DOT plan “a really big step in the right direction," while local cyclist Doug Gordon thanked the DOT for "daring to fix Jay Street."

Support also came from Kasia Nikhamina, who works at Red Beard Bikes in DUMBO. It takes “years to change a culture," Nikhamina said. "Please keep building this infrastructure.”

In approving the DOT proposal, committee members asked the department to delineate future bike lanes using flexible road barriers, which they hoped would discourage cars from parking in the lanes.