Cyclists Rail Against Narrow Hudson River Greenway Barriers

WEST VILLAGE, NY — The local community board is urging the State Department of Transportation study the Hudson River Greenway after a chorus of residents raised safety and congestion concerns, voted Community Board 2 at a Thursday meeting.

After last October's attack on the bike path along the Hudson River Park, where a terrorist mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a mile stretch, the state Department of Transportation installed "jersey barriers" at 31 locations where motor vehicles intersect with the greenway. The police department installed concrete "sugar cubes" at 26 pedestrian-only crossings to curb future attacks. But some avid cyclists say the safety measures were hastily installed and fear the new wave of improvements will harm the bikers they are meant to protect.

“After the terrorist attack the state hurriedly put up barriers, which created a safety hazard on the bike path and now they’re trying to make it permanently worse by placing the barriers that keep vehicles out too close together," said Ken Coughlin, 66, a legal editor who regularly bikes to work from the Upper West Side to Tribeca and has witnessed several close calls on the bike path.

The Hudson River Greenway is the busiest pedestrian and bike path in North America and swells with traffic each summer. The barricades installed by the state and city, and now plans to further shrink the space between barriers from 60 to 48 inches, will only make the congestion worse, say locals.

“It’s really not enough, we can’t even get people to go single file," said Nancy Brou, 50, a costume designer who has lived in the West Village for the last 15 years and is a member of the Hudson River Park Advisory Council, pulling out a measuring tape at Thursday's board meeting to show what 48 inches looks like. "So our request really is that a comprehensive safety study be done of the bike path before that happens.”

Community Board 2 members also requested that the state study review other issues involving the bike path including electric bike use on the roadway, signage, planned development in the area and survey locals who prefer not to use the bike path such as the elderly and those with young children to glean how the path can be made more accessible.

The State Department of Transportation and the NYPD did not return requests for comment.

Photos courtesy of Caroline Spivack/Patch