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Avalon Fort Greene

Lane hugging on Willoughby

By Dana Rubinstein
The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Paper / Dana Rubinstein
The city has gone ahead with painting in a bike lane on Willoughby Avenue from Washington Park in Fort Greene until it ends at Broadway in Bushwick. This is the same bike lane that was rejected by Community Board 2.

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Ten months after the community board voted “no” on a city plan to build five new miles of bike lanes through Fort Greene, the city has gone ahead and started painting in the cyclist-friendly paths anyway.

The Willoughby Avenue bike lane, which will stretch from Washington Park to Broadway in Bushwick, should be completed by May 26, according to Craig Chin, a Department of Transportation spokesman.

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Back in July, the board rejected the new lane by just one vote, with the majority claiming that the lanes would make it more difficult for motorists.

“[Bike lanes] create bottlenecks,” board member Cheryl Goodman said at the time. “New lanes … will make the street more congested.”

Despite the vote, the DOT rolled ahead — and cyclists are doing wheelies.

“Is Fort Greene trying to be like Amsterdam?” quipped Andrew Simon. “If so, I’m not mad.”

Caroline Samponaro, the bike campaign coordinator for Transportation Alternatives, a cycling advocacy group not known for its enthusiastic endorsements of the DOT, praised the development as “some really smart planning by the city.”

“It’s an example of a neighborhood bike lane that has the effect of extending the [bike-lane] network and also creating a safe space for cycling within the neighborhood.”

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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