Fourth Ave. Bike Lane Proposal Returns To Sunset Park At DOT Workshop

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — The Department of Transportation came back to Sunset Park on Wednesday night for another workshop about its plans to install parking-protected bike lanes along the length of Fourth Avenue from 65th Street in Bay Ridge to Atlantic Avenue.

The workshop, held at the Marien-Heim Senior Center on Fourth between 45th and 46th streets, didn't feature some of the fireworks and drama of the first one DOT put on in May.

It was the third public meeting DOT has held about its proposal and the second in Sunset Park.

"Nothing has been decided yet," DOT Bike Program Director Ted Wright said. "But we do want to come to the community and get as much feedback as possible before we move forward."

Chinese and Spanish translators were available to accommodate the diverse neighborhood, the DOT said, meeting a request that was made by City Councilman Carlos Menchaca.

"The Department of Transportation has gotten better at coming out to communities like ours and engaging in a real and serious way," Menchaca told Patch. "I feel more comfortable every day as DOT comes out here. I feel more comfortable that we’re making the right improvements."

Menchaca, an avid cyclist himself, showed up to the meeting with a bike helmet dangling off of his drawstring backpack.

"Today is an important next step conversation," Menchaca told the crowd of a few dozen before the event got started. He encouraged seniors at the senior center to participate, bringing some Chinese seniors inside to sit with a translator and, when a table of Hispanic seniors sitting at an outside table didn't want to come inside, brining maps, markers and a Spanish-speaking DOT rep outside to them.

He told Patch he rides his bike on Fourth Avenue regularly.

"I see a lot of bikes," he said about the road. "People in the neighborhood, commuters and people who use it to deliver food. This is my preferred route."

The proposal would keep the two existing car lanes on Fourth Avenue, while narrowing the parking lanes to make room for bicyclists. The bike lanes would run in between the sidewalks and parking lanes to keep cyclists protected from car traffic.

From 38th Street to the Prospect Expressway, the Northbound parking lane would double as an extra car lane during rush hour.

Left to be decided: Where exactly "loading zones" would be installed to let trucks stop and unload supplies to local businesses.

The Community Board 6-area, which includes Park Slope and Gowanus, seemed largely receptive to the idea at a workshop DOT held there.

Community Board 7, which covers Sunset Park, wasn't as enthusiastic the first time it heard the proposal. Both boards will have to vote whether to recommend whatever final proposal DOT comes up with.

Photo: Marc Torrence, Patch Staff