Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #06-37

Contact: Kay Sarlin (212) 442-7033
Chris Gilbride

DOT Announces Plans for New Bicycle Lanes and Traffic Calming Measures in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced plans for 5 miles of new bicycle lanes and a series of traffic calming measures aimed at enhancing safety and connecting Prospect Park and the Dean and Bergen street bicycle lanes in Crown Heights and Prospect Heights to bicycle attractors such as the Manhattan Bridge, DUMBO/Vinegar Hill, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Fort Greene Park. Work is scheduled to be completed in Fall 2006.

Carlton Avenue Bike Lane - A 5-foot wide northbound bicycle lane will be installed from Flatbush Avenue to Flushing Avenue.

Cumberland Street / Washington Park Bike Route and Lane - (Cumberland Street is named Washington Park between Myrtle Avenue and DeKalb Avenue.) DOT plans to install a new bicycle route along Cumberland Street from Flushing Avenue to Pacific Street in the southbound direction. From Flushing Avenue to Park Avenue the new route will be signed and marked with bicycle logos and chevrons. At Park Avenue, where Cumberland Street is interrupted by the Whitman Houses, the route will move eastbound on Park Avenue, to Carlton Avenue and along the southbound Carlton Avenue bicycle lane to Myrtle Avenue. At Myrtle Avenue, the southbound bike lane will begin on Washington Park and continue along Cumberland Street to Greene Avenue. For a 100' stretch of Cuyler Gore Park, cyclists will be permitted to share a 25 foot wide pathway with pedestrians and new signs and design treatments will be installed to enhance pedestrian and cyclist safety. Between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue, bike route signs will be installed and parking lanes will be marked to better guide motorists and cyclists. At Atlantic Avenue cyclists will turn east to access a new separated, "contra-flow" bicycle path on Carlton Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street.

Willoughby Avenue Bike Lane - A 5-foot eastbound bicycle lane will be installed on Willoughby Avenue from Washington Park (a.k.a. Cumberland Street) to Myrtle Avenue in Bushwick. The new lane will extend the bicycle network to the Pratt Institute, a major bicycle trip generator and connect cyclists to other bicycle routes. Willoughby Avenue from Washington Park to Classon Avenue is scheduled to be resurfaced in Fall 2006. The bicycle lane will be installed following the resurfacing.

Carlton Avenue Two-Way Conversion and Traffic Calming - Carlton Avenue will be converted from one-way northbound to a two-way operation between Park Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. The conversion will reduce speeding on Carlton Avenue, facilitate the installation of new bicycle facilities and provide 40 new parking spaces for the neighborhood. The conversion will be accomplished by striping a 20 foot median in the center of the roadway and adding 5' bicycle lanes on each side of the street. A 6 foot planted concrete median will replace the striped median.

The details of the project will be presented at the Community Board 2 meeting at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, June 14th. The meeting will be held at the Pratt Institute's Higgins Hall Auditorium at 65 St. James Place, near Lafayette Avenue. DOT welcomes input from the public.

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