City May Present CPW Protected Bike Lane Plan In June: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The city Department of Transportation intends to present plans for protected bike lane on Central Park West to the Upper West Side community board nine months after the board overwhelmingly endorsed the policy, according to reports.

The city DOT told Streetsblog that representatives will unveil a plan to turn Central Park West's existing unprotected bike lane into a protected lane during a Community Board 7 transportation committee meeting in June. The agency previously pushed back presentations in January and May, according to the report.

Community Board 7 voted in October to pass a resolution calling on the city to create a protected bike lane on the avenue following the death of Australian tourist Madison Jane Lyden in August 2018. Lyden was killed after being forced out of the Central Park West bike lane by a parked cab driver and hit by a truck.

"For literally years I and [transportation committee co-chair] Andrew Albert have asked DOT why they just can't switch the northbound parking lane on Central Park West and the bike lane so it would be much safer — and we really haven't gotten any satisfactory answer," transportation committee co-chair Howard Yaruss said during the October 2018 vote.

The truck driver, 44-year-old Felipe Chairez, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, police said. Captain Timothy J. Malin of the NYPD's 20th Precinct said in September that cab driver Jose Peralta — who was parked in the bike lane before Lyden's death, forcing her to swerve into the road — will not face criminal charges for his role in the deadly collision.

Following Lyden's death, safe streets advocates held a memorial service for her on Central Park West and local elected officials called on the city to make the avenue safer for bicyclists.

Specifics on the city's plan to install a protected bike lane on Central Park West were not revealed to Streetsblog

Read the full Streetsblog article here.