Monday, May 19, 2008

Vanderbilt Avenue is getting bike lanes


Vanderbilt Avenue is a logical connection from the GAP to the Dean and Bergen Street bike lanes (which then connect to Carlton Ave). My daily commute takes me down Vanderbilt but I do not use Dean or Bergen. Instead, I stay on Vanderbilt and either turn on Fulton or Flushing. With this new design the bike lane ends suddenly and there is no warning that cyclists will be merging with traffic. While extending the lane farther does not make for a perfect bike network, it would in the real word, create a better environment for cyclists.

If this would be done DOT would have to deal with the right turn only lane from Vanderbilt onto Atlantic (a headache they choose to avoid). It can be done and I feel that they should have looked at Vanderbilt all the way to Flushing as this would be a logical connector since Vanderbilt is a two way street (as opposed to Carlton which is one-way). At the very least signage should be installed indicating the end of the bike lane and share the road marking should also be done the last two blocks with no bike lane. While I think these improvements will be great for the local residents and pedestrians, once again this might be another missed opportunity.

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