Thedilapidated Shore Parkway bike path near Plumb Beach has gotten so bad, some bicyclists have taken to riding on an exit ramp of the Belt Parkway to avoid it.
The constant pounding of the surf has covered the asphalt path, which was refurbished just one year ago, with sand making it impassable to bike riders who have to dismount to use it — or take a dangerous detour.
“A car almost hit me when I tried to ride on the Belt Parkway,” said Fernando, a Sheepshead Bay resident who cycles down the path about two times each week. “So now I just walk through the sand trap.”
And it seems the city’s attempts to clean up the mess, which has been building since the day the path was restored, have been flimsy at best.
Over the past year, ugly black sandbags have been used in a feeble attempt to block waters from the Plumb Beach Channel from destroying the path, but they are no match for the pounding surf.
“I was there last week and I already saw some of those sandbags washed up into the ocean,” said Community Board 15 chairwoman Theresa Scavo. “It’s absolutely horrible.”
The Parks Department, which installed the sandbags, did not return calls for comment.
Scavo said she wasn’t sure if anything would get done anytime soon, leaving bicyclists to brave the dunes.
“My bike can get through ice and snow, but I have to get off and pick it up to get through this sand,” said Pat Nastasi.
Weekend warriors aren’t the only ones displeased with the city’s neglect. Politicians, including Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Sheepshead Bay), have been calling for federally funded jetties and boulders to protect the bike lane — and the Belt Parkway, which sits a few feet beyond it — from the raging waves. But so far, the dollars haven’t come through.
“It’s all bureaucratic red tape,” said Scavo, chairwoman of Community Board 15, who asked Weiner to address the problem.
