New York cyclists frustrated with construction, cars blocking protected bike lanes – CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNew York) – New York City has spent years creating protected bike lanes for the growing number of cyclists, but cyclists say many of them are completely unnecessary and dangerous, because of the construction and the cars.

A video of an East Village mother shows her child cycling to school this week, forced into the middle of the street because construction blocked the bike path.

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She wrote: “Wonder why more kids don’t cycle to school when they have a BikeNYC protected lane to get there.”

“It would be nice to have a protégé of one where we could actually ride bikes,” Alexis Adler, a resident of East Village, told CBS2’s Ali Bauman.

There are over 570 miles of protected bike trails throughout New York City.

Locals say construction equipment has been blocking a lane along 12th Street East through Avenue A for months, and this is just one of many protected bike lanes in the area that is dangerously littered with obstacles. illegal.

“You feel like, oh, I’m on the bike path, and then all of a sudden the bike path ends and there’s oncoming traffic,” Adler said.

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“I’ve had a few incidents where I kind of bounced off cars once or twice,” said Adam Farmerie, an East Village resident.

Cycling has exploded in the city during the pandemic with commuters like Wendy Dhang opting for a healthier alternative to subways or buses, but she finds that many protected lanes on her route are in fact impassable.

“It’s blocked either by the car or by the construction site. It bothers me a lot because I have to turn, and when I turn to get out of the lane it’s very dangerous, ”said Dhang.

The Department of Transportation said it updated the wording of city permits “to hold contractors accountable who do not maintain access to bike lanes in construction areas.”

After CBS2 questioned the city about the bike path in the East Village, the DOT came to inspect and issued a summons to the construction company for violating their permit.

“Free up this territory for better use,” Adler said.

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Cyclists call on the city to protect what is supposed to be their protected lanes.