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'Speedway' Along Prospect Park Unsafe for Cyclists, Borough President Says

 Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is pushing the DOT to consider making changes to Flatbush Avenue from Grand Army Plaza to Empire Boulevard on Prospect Park's east side that would make the corridor safer for bicyclists.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is pushing the DOT to consider making changes to Flatbush Avenue from Grand Army Plaza to Empire Boulevard on Prospect Park's east side that would make the corridor safer for bicyclists.
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DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS — Cyclists, an easier ride around the park may be on the way.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is making a push to make a stretch of Flatbush Avenue adjacent to Prospect Park safer for bicyclists, mirroring a similar effort on the park’s west side, he said.

The stretch of Flatbush from Grand Army Plaza to Empire Boulevard  — which Adams described as a “speedway for motor vehicles” —  should be studied for the feasibility of adding traffic-calming infrastructure, the borough president said in an April 22 letter to the head of Department of Transportation for Brooklyn.

“Given the success of cycling infrastructure in reducing crashes, decreasing sidewalk riding and improving safety for all users along the Prospect Park West corridor, I see no reason why similar infrastructure should not be considered for all roads abutting Prospect Park,” Adams said in the letter to commissioner Keith Bray, which he released publicly this week.

The transportation agency is reviewing Adams' request, DOT spokesman Scott Gastel told DNAinfo on Thursday. He also thanked the borough president for “his interest in bike infrastructure and his continued support for Vision Zero,” the mayor’s traffic safety initiative.

The effort by Adams to bring traffic calming conditions to Prospect Park’s east side comes as the city awarded millions of dollars in funding to the park for improvements to the Flatbush Avenue side of the green space, according to the Prospect Park Alliance.

On Wednesday, the alliance announced Prospect Park will receive funding through the city’s Parks Without Borders initiative, which will allow for two new entrances along Flatbush Avenue near the Prospect Park Zoo.

That effort is part of a larger project to improve pedestrian walkways, plant street trees and add new fencing along the avenue between Grand Army Plaza and Empire Boulevard, already in the works with $2.4 million in funding already allocated by Adams and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo.