United States: Bid to put spoke in cycle lanes

The efforts by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration have put the city at the forefront of a US trend to make cycling viable and safe even in the most urban of settings. But now a backlash has begun.

Bowing to opposition from drivers and elected officials, the city has started removing a 2.35-mile painted bike lane along Father Capodanno Boulevard on Staten Island.

In Manhattan, a community board held a hearing this month for businesses to vent their anger over problems posed by a new protected cycle lane on Columbus Avenue - in particular, the removal of parking spaces and the difficulty of getting truck deliveries.

In Brooklyn, new cycle lanes have led to protests for and against. Along Prospect Park West last month, the two sides demonstrated at the same time. Cycle paths along Bedford and Kent avenues in Williamsburg led to complaints from resident Hasidic Jews. The Bedford Avenue lane was later removed.

So far the opposition to the city's bicycle plans is not as passionate or organised as its backers, but it is slowly gaining attention.

The city council will hold a hearing next month to consider how the transport department consulted on large-scale road changes. Police and transport staff have, meanwhile, started to crack down on traffic violations by cyclists after complaints from pedestrians.

Many New Yorkers object to cycle lanes as sudden, drastic changes to their coveted concrete front yards.

"He's taking away my rights as a driver," Leslie Sicklick, 45, said of the mayor. Sicklick, a dog walker and supply teacher, grew up driving with her father around the Lower East Side, where she still lives.

She organised a demo in the East Village last month, and she and at least two groups of opponents are planning new rallies against local bike lanes. Cycling advocates have started to mobilise in response. Earlier this month bike riders massed in front of City Hall against plans to scale back cycle lane schemes proposed for First and Second avenues.

"It's easy to focus on some of the conflict and friction," said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group. "But that's always going to happen when you're changing the geometry of something as dear as the asphalt. It takes some adjustment, and we're definitely in that adjustment phase."

New York has a long relationship with the bike, with the first cycle path in the US running along Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn as early as 1894.Interest in better bike infrastructure was revived under Mayor John Lindsay in the 1970s. The first separate bike lanes were installed by Mayor Ed Koch in 1980 on Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue - although they were soon removed amid protests.

"What we did was on such a small scale," Koch said recently. "What's being done now is on such a large scale."

Along with pedestrian plazas and new express bus service lanes, improved bicycle infrastructure is part of a city effort to rebalance the mix of cyclists, pedestrians and cars on the streets. Traffic calming is a key goal, much to the annoyance of many drivers.

The transport department has responded to criticism by pointing to accident data showing new lanes increase pedestrian safety. Transport commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said: "The record speaks for itself. Injuries have dropped dramatically on streets where bike lanes have been installed."

The department pointed to the support lanes have among community boards, many of which have asked for them to improve road safety.

Outwith the city, bikes have started creeping into political debate this year. The Republican nominee for governor of Colorado, Dan Maes, wondered during the primary whether bicycles were part of a plot to ruin cities. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who lost his bid for re-election in Washington, was painted as out of touch over his support of bike lanes.

In New York, the biggest challenge yet could come along Prospect Park West, where some residents are fighting to eliminate the 1.8-mile, two-way strip of green paint delineating a new bike lane.

Norman Steisel, a former deputy mayor, admitted he never noticed the proliferation of cycle lanes until he got stuck in traffic near his Brooklyn home over the summer.

"I was shocked; I thought there had been a big accident," Steisel said of a back-up he links to a bike lane. "I guess I wasn't paying attention."

He was among protesters outnumbered more than three to one by supporters of bike plans at a demo last month.

"We don't want to be out here having to advocate for something that's already done," said Eric McClure, who lives in Park Slope. "But here we are."