A city plan to put bike lanes on Park Slope’s Ninth Street to improve the thoroughfare’s safety has proven to be surprisingly controversial, meeting more opposition, this time from state Sen. Eric Adams (D–Park Slope).
Adams wrote a letter to the city Department of Transportation that questioned the plan, which would eliminate one lane of traffic in each direction in favor of bike lanes and a center-road turning bay.
DOT unveiled the plan last month, and a Community Board 6 committee quickly approved it (though the full board is still considering it).
Adams asked whether “minor adjustments” — such as changing the timing of the street lights — could be made to fix the street’s problems before “major changes,” like the DOT’s current plan, are implemented.
“If decreasing traffic speed [is one of] the issues, one should develop a sound plan that will address [this] without interrupting the continuity of the street,” Adams said.
The DOT says its plan would reduce speeds — and accidents — on Ninth Street between Third Avenue and Prospect Park West, a stretch that has been the site of 274 crashes between 2004 and 2006.
“Transportation planners around the world are finding that street designs that help motorists, pedestrians and cyclists share space tend to be safer, more pleasant and more neighborhood-friendly than streets designed only to accommodate motor vehicle traffic,” said Aaron Naparstek, a transportation activist who is in favor of the bike lane plan.
DOT has said that it will move ahead in July, despite the debate.
