New Dyckman Street Bike Lanes Could Be Removed: Report Says

INWOOD, NY — The protected bike lanes on Dyckman Street between Broadway and Nagle Avenue could be removed just months after they were installed, according to reports.

The protected bike lanes were installed on the busy Inwood commercial corridor by the city Department of Transportation after a years-long debate in the local Community Board 12. Just months after the installation, local elected officials are facing pressure from Dyckman Street businesses to scrap the lanes, the Manhattan Times first reported.

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who also chairs the council's transportation committee, seemed amenable to removing the protected bike lanes in favor of a single, two-way bike lane on the north side of Dyckman Street, the Manhattan Times reported.

The councilman suggested the idea during a discussion with Dyckman Street business owners, the Manhattan Times reported. Many business owners complained that since the bike lanes were installed, congestion on Dyckman Street has gotten worse and led to a decline in sales. Business owners also claimed that the bike lanes were installed at the expense of parking on Dyckman Street, the Manhattan Times reported. Parking lanes on the street were moved from the curb to the middle of the street in order to separate bike traffic from car traffic.

Rodriguez said the bike lanes would be reevaluated in order to balance the needs of businesses and to keep the streets safe for all people using them.

"We need to share the streets. They belong not only to drivers, but cyclists and pedestrians," Rodriguez said, as reported by the Manhattan Times. "It’s all about balancing."

Borough President Gale Brewer and Coungressman Adriano Espaillat also joined the chorus calling for the removal of the bike lanes. In a letter sent to the city Department of Transportation in February, the officials called the current bike lane "untenable" and proposed relocating it two blocks north to West 204th Street. West 204th Street is less busy than Dyckman Street, but a bike lane there would not serve as a connector between the Hudson River and Harlem River greenways.

Read the full Manhattan Times article here.

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