Press Releases
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2023
Contact: (212) 839-4850, press@dot.nyc.gov
NYC DOT Completes East New York’s Longest Protected Bike Lane Project, Delivering Much-Needed Safety Near Schools
Project delivers over three miles of protected bike lanes on Cozine and Wortman avenues, improving safety for all road users along streets that abut three schools
The project complements a host of neighborhood safety improvements developed with school children in mind
New York — New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez today announced the substantial completion of the longest protected bike lane project in East New York, Brooklyn. The project delivered 3.18 miles of parking-protected lanes on a pair of parallel streets—Cozine and Wortman avenues—that will benefit seven nearby schools. The project improves traffic safety for all and provides safe east-west cycling connections between the existing Fountain Avenue protected lane and greenspaces like Breukelen Playground and Shirley Chisholm State Park. The work is part of a host of street redesigns developed to better protect school-aged children in the neighborhood.
“This great project makes these streets safer for all East New York residents—including the school children who will be walking these corridors every day to and from their classes,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Rodriguez. “Through a newly developed equity formula, NYC DOT is doubling down on our commitment to ensure all New Yorkers benefit from our life-saving work.”
By shortening crossing times for pedestrians and helping reduce vehicle speeds, protected bike lanes deliver safety benefits for pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists alike. These designs have reduced deaths and serious injuries for all road users by 18.1%. Traffic deaths and serious injuries among senior pedestrians fall even more dramatically where these bike lanes are installed, by 39%. In addition to the pair of protected lanes on Cozine and Wortman avenues, NYC DOT also installed a two-way protected bike lane along Louisiana Avenue, which runs along the Breukelen Playground and connects the two corridors. The agency also installed standard bike lanes on Stanley Avenue to expand the neighborhood’s lane network, including recently installed standard lanes on Hinsdale Street and Williams Avenue.
ADDITIONAL SAFETY REDESIGNS AND PUBLIC ART
NYC DOT also delivered a safety redesign to the nearby “bowtie” intersection of Dumont Avenue and New Lots Avenue. The redesign builds out painted pedestrian space to reduce crossing times and improve visibility for pedestrians and motorists.
The agency is also implementing additional safety improvements outside of P.S. 325 nearby in East New York, where the city is dramatically expanding the sidewalk with 14 feet of painted pedestrian space, on which a Brooklyn-based artist will paint a public art mural in coordination with the school. The agency is also enhancing pedestrian safety by adding a new, mid-block pedestrian crosswalk on Williams Avenue as well as painted sidewalk extensions at Stanley Avenue and Glenwood Road, which will shorten crossing distances and improve visibility between drivers and pedestrians.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
NYC DOT conducted two years of outreach to develop these three projects as well as the multiple safety improvements in the area—all part of a targeted effort to improve safety at nearby schools. Over the course of outreach, NYC DOT met with more than 35 local schools and NYCHA resident associations, in addition to conducting on-street public surveys at 14 locations.
As a result of the outreach, DOT has also installed a range of range of treatments at dozens of locations across the neighborhood, including: speed humps; turn-calming treatments; school slow zones; new stop signs and traffic signals. NYC DOT also installed more than 60 Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs) at signalized intersections. LPIs give pedestrians the opportunity to cross the street several seconds before vehicles are given a green light, a safety feature that improves pedestrian visibility and reduces conflicts with vehicles.
EQUITY COMMITMENT
In 2019, NYC DOT cut the ribbon on the Fountain Avenue protected bicycle lane, which provides direct access from East New York to Shirley Chisholm State Park. Through the New York City Streets Plan, NYC DOT has developed a new equity formula to help ensure the agency delivers more such projects in underserved communities. The formula weighs the percent of non-white and low-income populations, jobs and population density, and history of prior investments to help guide new project locations. East New York ranks high as a Tier 1 Priority Investment Area.
With increased output of cycling infrastructure under the Adams Administration and counting the new East New York lanes, New York City now has about 650 protected lane miles, including off-street paths.
"Every New Yorker needs safe places to walk and bike and we applaud DOT for investing in East New York by building three miles of protected bike lanes,” said Kathy Park Price, Brooklyn Organizer for Transportation Alternatives. “This project makes important steps in building East New York's bike network and brings life-saving benefits to everyone using the street — especially students getting to school — by calming traffic and providing safe bike connections. Completing projects like this is key to achieving the NYC Streets Plan and vital for achieving Vision Zero."