FLCC> FLCC Digest, Vol 49, Issue 28

Sun Sep 23 18:45:59 EDT 2007

wow 10 feet wide plus eight more feet.
i bet even lodico could fit thru that!
csmcb

flcc-request at icycle.org wrote:
> Send FLCC mailing list submissions to
> 	flcc at icycle.org
> 
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> 	http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/flcc_icycle.org
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> 	flcc-request at icycle.org
> 
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> 	flcc-owner at icycle.org
> 
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of FLCC digest..."
> 
> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1.  A better bike lane? (Amanda and Mark Shenstone)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:01:41 -0400
> From: "Amanda and Mark Shenstone" <gardens at lightlink.com>
> Subject: FLCC> A better bike lane?
> To: <flcc at icycle.org>
> Message-ID: <001301c7fdd9$879ccfc0$0301a8c0 at GracefulGardens>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Just when you thought you said all there could be 
> said about bike lanes, here's this about new bike 
> lanes in NYC (from today's NY Times)
> A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes
> By WILLIAM NEUMAN
> Published: September 23, 2007
> Cyclists and pedestrians never quite imagined it 
> this way, but maybe there is a use for all those 
> cars after all.
> 
> 
> Reconfiguring Ninth Avenue
> The city is planning to remake seven blocks of 
> Ninth Avenue in Chelsea into what officials are 
> billing enthusiastically, perhaps a bit 
> hyperbolically, as the street of the future.
> 
> The most unusual aspect of the design, which will 
> run from 16th Street to 23rd Street, is that it 
> uses a lane of parked cars to protect cyclists 
> from other traffic.
> 
> It does this by placing the bike lane directly 
> next to the sidewalk on the western edge of Ninth 
> Avenue, which is the left side of the street for 
> those facing north, in the direction of traffic. 
> The plan also takes a lane from cars, creating 
> more room for pedestrians and for the bicycle 
> lane.
> 
> "I think it's a sneak peek at the future streets 
> of New York," said Janette Sadik-Khan, the city's 
> transportation commissioner. "It represents the 
> kinds of innovative ideas that we can explore to 
> make the streets more livable."
> 
> Next to the bike lane, which will be 10 feet wide, 
> will be an eight-foot section of pavement that 
> will act as a buffer, with plastic posts and large 
> planters to keep cars from entering. The parking 
> lane will be to the right of the buffer zone, and 
> beyond that will be three lanes for traffic.
> 
> The result will be a barrier of parked cars 
> between cyclists and moving vehicles.
> 
> "For cyclists, you've got a physically separate 
> lane that prevents motorists from coming in," Ms. 
> Sadik-Khan said.
> 
> It is a design that has been used in cities in 
> Europe but never in New York City.
> 
> Another feature will make life easier for people 
> on foot. At each intersection, a raised island 
> will extend into the avenue. Called a "pedestrian 
> refuge," it has the effect of shortening the 
> distance traveled to cross the street to 45 feet, 
> from 70 feet.
> 
> Ms. Sadik-Khan said that work would begin shortly 
> and that the remade street would be completed by 
> next month.
> 
> As part of the plan, single-space parking meters 
> will be replaced by Muni-Meters, which control 
> many spaces, and the cost of parking will increase 
> to $2 an hour from $1.50.
> 
> Ms. Sadik-Khan said the makeover of the avenue was 
> possible because traffic volume in the area was 
> low enough that cars could move as smoothly in 
> three lanes as in four.
> 
> It is not difficult to see how that rationale 
> could dovetail with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's 
> proposal for congestion pricing, which would 
> charge drivers a fee to use the streets of 
> Manhattan below 86th Street. The fee is supposed 
> to reduce the volume of traffic, which could 
> theoretically free up street space for other uses.
> 
> Noah S. Budnick, the deputy director of 
> Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group 
> that works to improve conditions for cyclists and 
> pedestrians, said he thought a protected bike lane 
> would encourage more New Yorkers to get on bikes.
> 
> "If you talk to the average New Yorker, they'd 
> ride a bike, but most people say the traffic is 
> too scary," Mr. Budnick said. He pointed to the 
> example of a popular bike path in Hudson River 
> Park.
> 
> "If you provide protected space for riding bikes, 
> New Yorkers are going to use it in droves," he 
> said.
> 
> Mr. Budnick was asked if the idea of parked cars 
> protecting cyclists changed his view of the 
> oversized S.U.V.'s that are often the bugaboo of 
> bikers and environmentalists. After all, the 
> bigger the car, the better the barrier.
> 
> "As long as they're not moving," he said.
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> Amanda and Mark Shenstone
> Graceful Gardens
> PO Box 100
> Mecklenburg, NY 14886
> 607.387.5529
> http://www.gracefulgardens.com
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: http://icycle.org/pipermail/flcc_icycle.org/attachments/20070923/75555ade/attachment.html 
> -------------- next part --------------
> A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
> Name: not available
> Type: image/gif
> Size: 23657 bytes
> Desc: not available
> Url : http://icycle.org/pipermail/flcc_icycle.org/attachments/20070923/75555ade/attachment.gif 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> FLCC mailing list
> FLCC at icycle.org
> http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/flcc_icycle.org
> 
> 
> End of FLCC Digest, Vol 49, Issue 28
> ************************************
> 
> 