Ninth Street Bike Lanes in contention. Myra Manning Park Slope

Resident group wants bike lanes returned to near curb. Statistics thrown by mid street advocates.Stats should always be taken with a healthy grain of salt.

Bike Lane Has Made 9th Street 'Almost Lawless,' Residents Say

A group of residents started an advocacy group after they say the new 9th Street bike lane raised safety concerns, but not everyone agrees.

By Anna Quinn, Patch Staff

Jan 29, 2019 4:56 pm ET | Updated Jan 30, 2019 10:40 am ET

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A group of residents on 9th Street have started an advocacy group to solve what they say are a number of safety issues caused by a bike lane installed last year.
But if the first heated meeting about the concerns is any indication, not everyone agrees things should go back to the way they were. The bike lanes were part of a number of changes to the street following the death of two children in a car crash last year.
The meeting last Thursday, set up by Myra Manning, brought about 35 people and a representative from the borough president's office to All Saints Episcopal Church. It followed a petition Manning distributed after two of her elderly neighbors were almost hit by bicyclists speeding down the new lane, she said.

"Within one hour, I had 21 signatures," said Manning, who said the petition now has as many as 1,300 signatures. "I had thought I was alone, but then it just had a life of its own...Many people in neighborhood who I know personally have told me how unsafe they feel. It's almost lawless here."
The bike lane has made it so that delivery trucks or cars that are unloading need to do so unsafely in the middle of the road, which has become an issue for school buses, the supermarket and even a 9th Street funeral home who struggles to unload its caskets, Manning said.

Residents are also concerned about being hit by bicyclists, that their businesses are suffering because of a loss to parking and that 18-wheelers have taken to nearby one-way streets because they avoid the newly-narrow 9th Street. The group she co-founded, Citizens United For Safety, is seeking to hold meetings with more elected officials and obtain Department of Transportation documents to resolve the issues, Manning said.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who had a representative of his office attend the meeting, wasn't immediately available for comment.
Manning contends that the street should be returned to its previous design, when the bike lane ran in between parking spaces and traffic instead of curbside.
But, it seems Manning and the new group will have an uphill battle. A few street-safety advocates who attended the meeting also say they will continue to make their voices heard in support of the bike lane, which they argue, along with other changes to street design, have decreased traffic deaths.
"All of the available evidence on protected bike lanes in New York City shows that they have made safer any street on which they have been installed," said Brian Howald, a Brooklyn Heights resident who attended the meeting. "Even though it feels odd to have bike lanes up against the curb, and even if it feels less safe, all the evidence suggests that it is indeed safer."
Howald said it is too early to analyze the 9th Street lane's impact on safety, but pointed to DOT statistics from 2014 about six bike lane projects in Manhattan. Injury crashes were reduced 17 percent, cyclist injuries were reduced 2 percent, pedestrian injuries were reduced 22 percent and injuries to car occupants were reduced 25 percent within three years, according to the report.
The new bike lanes can therefore improve safety for 9th Street as well, Howald contended.
Manning said that she and those who live on 9th Street do not feel that safety was an issue before the bike lanes were added.
But, Howald pointed out that Crashmapper shows that there were 118 total crashes, 158 injuries and three fatalities on a stretch of 9th Street since 2011.
Another street-safety advocate Peter Kaufman, who admits he got into a heated squabble with some of the meeting attendees, said the new group's arguments are similar to other times communities have fought against adding bike lanes.
"It's like bike-lash bingo," he said.
Manning maintained that the group is not meant to be anti-bike lane.
"We are not advocating that there should be no bike lanes, we're simply concerned about the bike lane being next to the curb," she said. "We're concerned citizens working for the safety of all."
Photo by Nick Rizzi/Patch

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