Bike Unfriendly New York
As the city patted itself on the back for finishing 200 miles of bike lanes with a ceremony on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, I am finding it more and more difficult to ride here. I took my wife out riding twice this week, the first time she’s ridden in four years, and even she was amazed at what a mess it is.
Central Park is like the canker sore in the back of your mouth that you keep on flicking your tongue at even though you know it’s going to hurt. So there we were on Wednesday for some easy laps – I needed a recovery day and my wife needed to see if she remembered how to pedal. With the exception of the east side from 59th and 6th Avenue to the 72nd street exit, the loop in the park is closed to traffic during the day from 10am to 3pm. The only traffic at that time is the occasional police car (Central Park has its own NYPD Precinct) and worked for the NYC Parks Department and the Central Park Conservatory. Needless to say, I got into it with one of the workers driving a truck from the Conservatory.
The particulars are that I took umbrage at the fact the guy, who had just passed us, changed lanes and stopped parallel to another Park vehicle at a red light, effectively blocking off both lanes. After a brief exchange which was rather low key, he stopped the truck and got out. He explained to me that the jogger’s lane is the bike lane where I should be riding and that he had the right of way in the park. Yeah, I’m sure that’s why the city closes the Park to traffic, so that the NYC Parks Department and the Central Park Conservatory can run drag races. Our discussion was very civil with no shouting or expletives, but it left me shaking my head. The last bastion of greenery, heck the only bastion of greenery in New York, and the even the Conservatory just doesn’t seem to get it.
Broadway Bike Path
Today, I took my wife down the newly constructed bike lane on Broadway, so that she could witness this marvel of civil engineering and city planning. The path is actually nice and fairly well designed. They avoided the pitfalls of the 9th Avenue bike lane by providing space between the curb and the bike lane for the inevitable corps of runners. The engineering genius comes at 46th street when the brand new path, put in just this past May, comes to a screeching halt due to the now pedestrian haven which is Broadway. Mayor Bloomberg was so hell bent on closing Broadway to traffic, he closed his brand new bike lane as well, and without an easily rideable escape. Your options are to walk your bike through the pedestrian jungle or choose between heavily trafficked routes, all the more heavily trafficked because the vehicles that used to use Broadway also have to find an escape. If they can spend $8.8 million dollars on bike lanes and the such, you think they could have figured out a better solution.
46th Street and Broadway
- Bike Friendly, No?
Tour Golf Update
As of Stage 6, here’s where we stand in Grand Tour Golf: 2009 Tour de France Edition (how it works can be found here):
- Versus Combined: 2 strokes
- Viewfromtheback: 25
- Bob Roll: 36
- Craig Hummer: 77
- Paul Sherwen: 109
- Phil Liggett: 272
- Viewfromtheback’s Computer: 488
I’ve enjoyed my time near the front. I don’t get to feel what that’s like too often. After today’s stage in which I have Gesick, who’s out with a broken wrist, I’ll be back in familiar territory with a view from the back.
Share This Post: add to del.icio.us | Digg it | Stumble It! | Add to Facebook
[...] better one on Broadway (slightly better at least until the stupidity that reigns supreme with the Times Square debacle). The city already has its pilot run with the closing of Park Avenue during the summer. Why not [...]