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Advocates Propose Protected Bike Lane on Jay Street

By Janet Upadhye | November 25, 2014 3:58pm
 A proposed bike lane woud run along Jay Street from the Manhattan Bridge entrance to Fulton Street.
A proposed bike lane woud run along Jay Street from the Manhattan Bridge entrance to Fulton Street.
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Transportation Alternatives

DUMBO — A local advocacy group is calling for a two-way protected bike lane along Jay Street from the waterfront in DUMBO to Downtown Brooklyn.

The proposal, from Transportation Alternatives, also calls for lighting beneath the Manhattan Bridge, wider pedestrian medians and giving pedestrians a head-start to cross the street.

The aim is to create safer interactions between high volumes of pedestrian traffic, vehicles (including buses) and cyclists on the accident-prone corridor.

Since 2011, there have been at least 68 crashes along Jay Street from DUMBO to the Fulton Street Mall, according to crashmapper, a web site that uses data from the NYPD.

It was not clear how many pedestrian and cyclist crashes were among them.

The high volume of accidents prompted a public workshop earlier this year that included input from more than 100 residents along with local politicians and representatives from the Department of Transportation, Community Board 2, Forest City Ratner Companies, which owns large chunks of real estate in the area, and the NYPD.

The proposals, which stemmed from ideas generated at the workshop, are also designed to address a future influx of new students, workers and residents in the area.

Among the projects on the horizon are: NYU’s Center for Urban Science + Progress at 1 MetroTech Center, the restoration of 370 Jay St. for NYU classrooms, new developments at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the conversion of the Watchtower complex into office and retail uses, plus the completion of several new residential high-rises.

Advocates believe that the city needs to look at their ideas for making Jay Street less dangerous now — before the projects are complete over the next couple of years.

"As we look towards the future, the need for transforming Jay Street seems ever more critical," organizers at Transportation Alternatives note in the report. "This is the right time to focus on making Jay Street a better, safer corridor for everyone."

Community Board 2 has not yet passed a resolution asking the Department of Transportation to study the proposal.

"Now DOT needs to work with those community partners to come up with a redesign plan for Jay Street, to make it work better for all the New Yorkers who use it," a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives said.

A DOT spokesman said the agency is aware of Transportation Alternatives efforts and is open to discussing operational improvements with community stakeholders but there are no plans at this time for a redesign of Jay Street.