Spike In Cyclist Deaths Yields $58M De Blasio Plan

NEW YORK — New York City will install more protected bike lanes, redesign dangerous intersections and bolster traffic enforcement as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's $58.4 million response to a large spike in cycling deaths.

The Democratic mayor on Thursday unveiled his plan to make city streets less treacherous for bikers following the deaths of 17 cyclists on city streets so far this year, up from 10 in all of 2018.

"It's a crisis. It's an emergency," de Blasio said at a news conference in Brooklyn. "And we can never look at such a moment like this and think we can do things the same way."

The mayor's plan, dubbed "Green Wave," calls for adding 30 miles of protected bike lanes a year, up from the current average pace of 20 miles each year, with the goal of installing more than 80 miles of them by the end of 2021.

The city currently has 480 miles of protected bike lanes, which separate cyclists from traffic with some sort of physical barrier.

De Blasio's plan also proposes 10 "bike priority districts" in parts of Brooklyn and Queens with few bike lines and high numbers of cycling fatalities, the report says. The city undertook a similar effort two years ago only to see injuries rise in eight of the 10 designated zones, according to Streetsblog.

Other infrastructure upgrades in the plan include traffic-calming fixes at 50 intersections and tweaks to the timing of traffic signals that encourage steady cycling speeds, according to the mayor's office.

The plan also calls for more vigorous police action against dangerous drivers — especially trucks, which have been involved in more than half of this year's cyclist deaths, city officials said.

Cops will step up traffic enforcement against speeding, blocking bike lanes and other infractions at 100 crash-prone intersections across the city, and special units and precincts will target trucks that are oversized or go off their routes, according to the mayor's office.

The city's Department of Transportation will hire 80 new staffers to help implement the plan, greatly increasing the number of workers dedicated to bike lane infrastructure, city officials say.

"I think we have created a plan that is ambitious and realistic," Transportation Commission Polly Trottenberg said. "It has the resources and the personnel and meets the urgency of this tragic moment."

De Blasio has also directed the NYPD to continue its crackdown on traffic violations such as blocking bike lanes, a phenomenon that cyclists say puts them in danger by forcing them into traffic.

While cops have doubled enforcement against bike lane-blocking since the crakdown started, the number of tickets issued to cars parked in bike lanes actually dropped through the first week of the month compared to last year.

This year's jump in cycling deaths has mitigated the success of de Blasio's Vision Zero initiative, which aims to ultimately eradicate traffic fatalities. It comes as more New Yorkers are traveling on two wheels — some 490,000 daily cycling trips were recorded in 2017, more than double the 210,000 seen in 2007, a Department of Transportation report shows.

The deaths spurred cyclists to stage a large die-in protest at Washington Square Park earlier this month. Cycling advocates praised the mayor for taking action, though they indicated they would continue to press the city to go further.

"We won't be discouraged by the recent increase in bicyclist deaths; it's clear that the mayor won't either," Marco Conner, the co-deputy director at Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement. "We're hopeful that this plan will get Vision Zero back on track and help alleviate the anxiety that comes with riding a bike lately in the five boroughs."

But City Council Member Antonio Reynoso called the mayor's plan inadequate as it is "largely an expansion & acceleration of Vision Zero."

"Reckless drivers will continue to terrorize our streets until there’s a culture shift to prioritize pedestrians & cyclists," Reynoso, a Brooklyn Democrat, said on Twitter.