The city wants to paint a bike lane through the heart of Dyker Heights, but some residents of the car-dependent neighborhood think it will take away valuable space from their autos.
Neighbors argue the lane, which will run along Bay Ridge Parkway between Fourth Avenue and Bay Parkway, will make the strip — which they claim is congested much of the day — more dangerous for everyone.
“From Sixth Avenue to 10th Avenue, during peak hours, cars create a second lane,” said Josephine Beckman, the district manager of Community Board 10, who says she uses the road every day. “That’s how congested it is.”
As such, residents think adding the lane will make the road more difficult to navigate.
“You won’t be able to pass another car,” said Joanne de Meglio.
But the Department of Transportation, which has been drawing up bike lanes with impunity over the last few years, says the lane is in line with it’s master plan to layout interconnecting bicycle lanes throughout the borough — and it won’t be infringing on space for cars.
“Between Fourth Avenue and Bay Parkway, excess road space will be re-appropriated to create bicycle lanes,” Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri explained in a letter.
The Bay Ridge Parkway bike lane would help connect existing bike lanes on Colonial and Shore roads as well as planned bike lanes on Third Avenue, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Bay Parkway.
To reach Shore Road, a “shared lane” will be drawn from Fourth Avenue down, to remind drivers that the road is not their’s alone.
But to some, those lanes would be more valuable in other neighborhoods.
“It would be better in an area where you have singles and people that don’t all have cars,” said Lucille Santano.
