UWS Riverside Rotunda Plan Lacks Bike Safety Measures: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Upper West Side community board memebrs and bicyclists balked at the city Department of Transportation's $200 million plan to renovate the West 79th Street Rotunda in Riverside Park, according to reports.

Community Board 7's transportation told city Department of Transportation officials to update its plan for the rotunda by adding a dedicated space for bikers, the West Side Spirit first reported. The DOT presented its plan on Monday, and will return to the board in January to present again.

The plans presented this week by the DOT would force bicyclists using the rotunda to navigate the same lanes as cars and MTA buses, the Spirit reported. The amount of space would actually be narrower following renovations because cyclists would be sharing space with cars coming onto and off of the Henry Hudson Parkway, Streetsblog reported.

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The rotunda provides a link to the Hudson River Greenway — the city's busiest bike path — at West 79th Street. This connection makes it a widely-used path by byclists despite the lack of protections.

"This is one of the main entrances to the busiest bikeway in the United States and it’s really not good," Mark Horton, an Upper West Sider who bikes the path, said Monday as reported by the West Side Spirit. "Given that we’re doing a big construction project in this day and age, it’s kind of a shame that we would be spending this sort of money to do almost nothing."

The city announced it would be renovating the West 79th Street Rotunda and nearby Amtrak bridge in March and is planning to begin the project sometime in 2019.

Much of the work being done on the rotunda and bridge will include restoring infrastructure such as the roadways, ramps and sidewalks. The city will also upgrade the rotunda to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, upgrade nearby restrooms and take measures to increase safety.

Photo by Google Maps street view