Windsor Terrace Bike Lanes Approved By Community Board After Fierce Oppossition

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn community board gave its approval for a Department of Transportation plan to add bike lanes on 10th and 11th avenues in Windsor Terrace after facing fierce opposition from people who said the bike lanes would only add more chaos to the neighborhood roads.

The proposal would add the bike lanes to 10th Avenue between Prospect Park Southwest and 18th Street and on 11th Avenue between Prospect Park Southwest and McDonald Avenue.

The 42-feet wide roads are currently designed for one lane of traffic with parking on either side. Under the new plan, the single travel lane will be reduced to 10 feet wide, designate 11-feet parking lanes on both sides of the street, and add a five-feet wide dedicated bike lane with a five-feet buffer (see the entire DOT proposal here).

The DOT says narrowing the car lane will slow down traffic and give bicycle riders a safe place to ride alongside traffic. You can see a diagram of the proposal below:

Eric Havlik, principal of PS 154, asked the board to support the plan at the beginning of a lengthy public meeting held Wednesday night at the chapel in Greenwood Cemetery.

"We have real concerns about traffic in front of and on 11th Avenue in front of our school. This is an unmarked avenue, so traffic weaves back and forth," he said. "We have cars that race by the school, in front of the school, to beat the light."

Not everyone was in agreement.

"I think we have a misconception of how this all work. If you have traffic issues and safety issues now, wait 'til you put in bike lanes. That’s not how you slow down traffic," resident Bob Burke told the crowded chapel. "Bicyclists and bike lanes are not going to slow down traffic and make it safer."

Some of the anti-bike lane crowd pointed to the protected bike lanes on Prospect Park West, painting a picture of renegade cyclists who blow past pedestrians with no regard and fail to stop at stoplights.

"If you want to see a problem, look at Prospect Park West," Robert Nichols said. "You look at all the traffic problems, the accidents, all the pedestrians that have gotten hurt since they put that in. That’s what’s going to happen on 11th Avenue."

Others, though, said bikes are far less dangerous than cars and said the bike lanes would be a welcome safety improvement in a neighborhood with few dedicated cycling lanes.

"Narrowing lanes slows down traffic, it’s just a fact," Kent Lanier, who lives on 11th Avenue, said. "I know you don’t like bikes for whatever reason, but bikes don’t kill as many people as cars. Let’s just do the right thing and not worry about change being so scary."

The board eventually voted in favor of the proposal 29 to 8.

City Councilman Brad Lander and Assemblyman Robert Carroll both wrote letters to the DOT in favor of the plan, which you can read below:

Image via DOT