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Transportation & Environment
Department of Transportation Proposal for a Parking-protected Bicycle Lane and Traffic Calming Measures on 6th Avenue from 14th to 33rd Streets.
WHEREAS, In 2014, Community Boards Two, Four, and Five jointly requested a study by the New York City Department of Transportation ("DOT") of the 6th Avenue corridor from 14th to 33rd Streets for the installation of a protected bike lane; and
WHEREAS, The Vision Zero program calls for an expanded bicycle network in Manhattan; and
WHEREAS, The Vision Zero program mandates a multi-agency effort to improve safety measures for all road users and reduce traffic fatalities; and
WHEREAS, On a typical weekday over 2,000 cyclists use the existing bicycle lane on 6th Avenue from 8th Street to 42nd Street; and
WHEREAS, Peak motor vehicle volume reaches 1,970 vehicles per hour in the area; and
WHEREAS, 6th Avenue serves as the heart of the Citi-Bike service area, containing 7 stations within and around the corridor; and
WHEREAS, DOT has identified 6th Avenue as a Priority Corridor; and
WHEREAS, DOT has specifically identified the intersections of 14th Street and 6th Avenue and 23rd Street and 6th Avenue as Priority Intersections; and
WHEREAS, 27 pedestrians, 10 cyclists, and 15 motor vehicle occupants were severely injured in crashes in this corridor during the study period of 2009 – 2013; and
WHEREAS, The existing condition consists of a 9-foot parking lane on the west side of 6th Avenue, a 5-foot wide bicycle lane, 3 eleven-foot wide travel lanes and a nineteen-foot wide shared parking and travel lane on the east side of the Avenue; and
WHEREAS, Current conditions in the corridor encourage erratic driving and speeding via wide traffic lanes; and
WHEREAS, Current conditions in the corridor allow unpredictable maneuvers generally, and especially promote unsafe left turns by motor vehicles; and
WHEREAS, The existing bike lane is often blocked by illegally double-parked vehicles; and
WHEREAS, DOT intends to alter the street pattern while maintaining the same number of driving lanes; and
WHEREAS, DOT proposes to install a 6-foot wide bicycle lane on the west side of the Avenue protected by a 3-foot wide painted buffer zone and an 8-foot wide parking lane; and
WHEREAS, DOT proposes to narrow the driving lanes to create four 10-foot wide driving lanes and a 9-foot wide designated parking lane on the east side of the Avenue; and
WHEREAS, DOT proposes to create painted pedestrian islands to shorten pedestrian street crossing from sixty-six feet to forty-nine feet, allowing for safer street crossings; and
WHEREAS, DOT studies demonstrate that narrower driving lanes and floating parking lanes calm motor vehicle traffic and inspire slower driving; and
WHEREAS, DOT proposes the use of Mixing Zones at some intersections in the corridor, which improve visibility of both pedestrians and cyclists, provide space to negotiate the merge, and remove left turns from through lanes, helping to process through traffic; and
WHEREAS, DOT proposes the introduction of Split Phase Intersections at 14th Street and 23rd Street, where the bicycle lane would continue the entire length of the block and turning vehicles would queue for dedicated turning, which protects pedestrians and cyclists; and
WHEREAS, The creation of these intersection management designs will remove a total of forty-two parking spaces from the west side of 6th Avenue and will not affect the east side; and
WHEREAS, Similar parking-protected bicycle lanes created on 1st, 2nd, 8th, and 9th Avenues have dramatically reduced accidents and injuries; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five strongly urges DOT to improve safety conditions for cyclists on 6th Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets by removing existing street furniture and opening more sidewalk space for pedestrian movement and improving safety conditions for all users by increasing enforcement of traffic laws; and
WHEREAS, Although this plan will increase safety along the corridor, Community Board Five renews its request for a comprehensive complete street plan from DOT; therefore be it resolved
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of DOT's proposed parking-protected bicycle lane and traffic calming measures on 6th Avenue from 14th to 33rd Streets.