Here Are The Changes Coming To The Fifth Avenue Bike Lane

FLATIRON, NY — The bike lane along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan will soon become a protected bike lane, giving cyclists using one of Manhattan's busiest thoroughfares a barrier between themselves and cars.

The city's transportation department is set to launch multiple upgrades to a large stretch of Fifth Avenue this month, a department spokesperson confirmed. The main change will updating the bike lane along Fifth Avenue to a protected bike lane. The new protected lane will stretch from from 23rd Street to Washington Square Park.

A protected bike lane, as opposed to a traditional one, offers more protection for cyclists because it uses parked cars as a barrier between the bike lane and moving vehicular traffic

Here's what the upgrades will look like for the majority of the 16-block stretch:

The city's transportation department will start working on the project in mid-July, and expects to finish by late summer or early fall, according to a department spokesperson. (Want more local news? Sign up here for free news alerts and neighborhood updates from Patch.)

Designated and protected bike lanes have long been a demand from the city's vocal cycling population, who say that cyclists riding in the streets with cars are often at risk for injury or death. After multiple cyclists were killed last month, the activist group Transportation Alternatives called on the city to add more bike lanes, and especially more cross-town lanes, in its infrastructure upgrades.

The protected bike lane coming to Fifth Avenue will include mixing zones, a design feature that many cyclists say is unsafe for anyone who's not in a car. A mixing zone is the area of the intersection where a left-hand turn lane merges with a bike lane. Cars are permitted to turn left into a mixing zone but cyclists are meant to have the right of way.

Lead image via Shutterstock; secondary pic via the NYC Department of Transportation.