Blizzard of 2010? No, but Friday’s light snowfall means that cyclists on the controversial Prospect Park West bike lane are out of luck until the city gets around to plowing the two-way dedicated path.
City officials told us on Friday that bike lanes are a low priority for the Department of Sanitation, getting cleared only after primary, secondary, and tertiary routes are plowed, according to agency spokesman Matthew LiPani.
Cycling advocates were OK with that — within reason.
“Let’s make sure that roads that fire trucks, ambulances and police need to get through are plowed right first — but if the lanes still aren’t plowed after three, four, five days, then it is not giving fair consideration to people who rely on the lane to commute to work,” said Doug Gordon, a Park Slope resident and blogger.
And snow shouldn’t be an excuse.
“It should be a priority to make them usable year round,” said Aja Hazelhoff, bicycle advocate for Transportation Alternatives, a grassroots group.
The Prospect Park West bike lane had patchy, icy spots for weeks after the Great Blizzard of 2010, the one for which Mayor Bloomberg is still taking heat.
