Plan For Fourth Avenue Bike Lane Approved By Community Board 6

PARK SLOPE, NY — Community Board 6 nearly unanimously voted to approve a parking-protected bike lane along stretch of Fourth Avenue after the city agreed to quicken the installation timeline.

The Department of Transportation's proposal calls to build the lanes along Fourth Avenue that would connect Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Park Slope and Downtown Brooklyn. The plan would also expand pedestrian spaces near intersections that would force cars to make wider turns and improve the visibility of walkers and cyclists.

Click here to full the DOT's full plan.

The majority of the board was in favor of the plan — with only one member abstaining from the vote and no objections — but some feared that the potential truck ban along sections of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway would send them along Fourth Avenue and make it more dangerous for cyclists.

"I'd like to see a traffic study if they close down the BQE," said board member Roger Rigolli. "To see if this project should wait a while."

Aside from the lanes, the plan call to remove about four parking spaces per block — about 145 total in Community Board 6 — and add loading spots for local businesses on the street. It would also turn a parking lane into a driving one from 38th Street to Prospect Avenue during rush hours, according to the DOT.

During public sessions with the city, residents and business owners complained about double parking along Fourth Avenue and the DOT plans to convert some spaces into metered spots to increase turnover.

The bike lane would run across from 65th Street to Atlantic Avenue and be built in phases. The first section, between 38th to 64th streets, would start this spring with the final stretch not starting construction until 2021.

The board and Councilman Brad Lander previously called on the city to quicken the pace of lane construction in Park Slope, which was only expected to have seven lanes installed within the next three years, and the DOT proposed adding temporary lanes from 38th Street to Atlantic Avenue starting in 2019.

The project still needs to be voted on by neighboring Community Board 7, whose transportation committee already approved it last month. The board pushed back their full vote until their January meeting when more members would be in attendance.

Image: New York City Department of Transportation