Manhattan BP Demands West Side Highway Protected Bike Lane

NEW YORK, NY — The West Side Highway needs a protected bike lane, according to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.

Levine joined elected officials and advocates on the corner of Chambers Street and Route 9A Tuesday morning to call on the state Transportation department to install a protected bike lane on West Side Highway.

The proposed change would close one lane of vehicular traffic and replace it with a two way bike lane from West 57th Street for four miles to Chambers Street.

The proposed plan would create a protected bike plan spanning 4 miles along the highway. (Claire Schnatterbeck/Patch)

The project is inspired by the Brooklyn Bridge protected bike lane creation and a campaign to curb congestion from vehicles and on the Hudson River Greenway, according to Levine.

The call for a bike lane comes following the recent approval of a congestion pricing plan to charge cars extra fees for entering New York City’s most congested areas, Levine said.

The resultant decrease in car traffic could open up the highway to cycling and provide New Yorkers with a more environmentally friendly way to commute if the right infrastructure was in place, the borough president argued.

“If we can make it easier to commute on a bicycle along this artery, then there will be people who will give up their cars to do it," Levine said. "But we also have to improve alternatives beyond using the private automobile."

Elected officials also argued it would alleviate overcrowding on the Hudson River Greenway, which Levine dubbed “one of the heaviest used bikeways in America."

Council Member Chris Marte — who said he bikes down the greenway several times a week — noted overcrowding makes life harder for parents dropping off kids at nearby P.S. 89.

“They have to deal with a number of cyclists, a number of e-bikes, a number of joggers," Marte said. "It's like a maze for them to make sure that their kids can go to school.”

However, as much as city officials support the creation of a new bike lane, the jurisdiction does not fall to them. While Route 9A is commonly known as the “West Side Highway,” it is a state highway that falls under the jurisdiction of the New York State DOT.

As their first action, supporters of the project sent a letter to the Transportation department urging for a feasibility study. Levine clarified that it would be a multimillion-dollar project in the long run, but in the short term, a new bike lane could be created with “just a paintbrush” in a couple of months.

Representatives from advocacy groups such as WE ACT for Environmental Justice, StreetsPAC, the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and Bike New York also spoke at the news conference to voice their support for the project.

“Anyone who cares about this park, and this greenway, supports this plan,” Levine said.