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NAG Supports Updated Kent Avenue Redesign

NAG's Transportation Working Group advocates for safer streets and better/safer transit options in North Brooklyn. The Department of Transportation recently presented its updated redesign plan for Kent Avenue to Community Board 1 (view the presentation here.) The Transportation Working Group responded with the following letter to Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn, expressing our support for the plan and making recommendations for improving pedestrian safety, prioritizing the future Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, and minimizing the potential impacts of a truck traffic reroute.

To volunteer with the NAG Transportation Working Group, please contact transportation@nag-brooklyn.org

Dear Commissioner Sadik-Kahn:

Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) is a community-based advocacy organization serving North Brooklyn. On behalf of the residents of this neighborhood, we want to thank the Department of Transportation for your efforts to resolve the issues surrounding the redesign of Kent Avenue and let you know that we strongly support the new design.

We appreciate your listening to community suggestions in response to the implementation of the first redesign. We also appreciate your commitment to safe cycling and future realization of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which will be an asset to our community. We are particularly excited about increased connectivity between Bedford and Kent Avenues and increased safety for cyclists via the floating lanes. We are also pleased to see that the new plan restores loading zones for our local businesses.

However, we still have a few concerns that we would like to address. The foremost of these is pedestrian safety. As you know, Kent Avenue is quickly changing from an industrial to a residential street. In addition, the East River State Park, particularly with its increased programming in the summer months, regularly draws large crowds including families. We need more attention to this increase in pedestrian traffic immediately -- many intersections, such as N. 8th (at the entrance to the park), N. 4th, and N. 14th, would almost certainly qualify for traffic lights now. The community simply cannot wait for another lengthy study -- the danger is already there. We also urge that the final design narrow the crossing distance on Kent for pedestrians as much as possible.

In addition, we request that the DOT replace only the number of parking spaces that will be available upon completion of the greenway, and look into placing planters within the buffer as a preview of the greenway's landscaping.

Finally, as you are aware, there is much concern in the neighborhood about the truck traffic that will be rerouted to Wythe Avenue and North 11th Street. We encourage you to implement traffic calming measures, such as stop signs, traffic lights, neckdowns and/or road diets on these streets, and to maintain open communication with the community during and after the plan's implementation to assess the implications of this rerouting.

We thank you again for your attention to this issue and we look forward to a dialogue with you as this project moves forward.

Sincerely,
Lacey Tauber, Kevin Vincent, Michael Freedman-Schnapp, and Alexandra Sweet
NAG Transportation Working Group

image via Gowanus Lounge

June 4: Safer Streets for Walking, Biking, and Driving

Join us at the Diamond Bar (43 Franklin Street), Thursday June 4 at 7:30pm to write letters to the city and elected officials asking to improve proposed plans for Kent Avenue and the Pulaski Bridge.

At the last Community Board Transportation meeting, we heard updates from the DOT about the Kent Avenue redesign, and the new design plan for the Pulaski Bridge. You can download the Kent presentation here, which essentially involves making traffic one way, with a "floating" 2-way bike lane, separated from traffic by a buffer and parked cars/turning lane. The Pulaski plans are not available online yet, but basically involve some striping and signage to encourage a safer interaction between pedestrians and cyclists on the pathway.

We want to support the general impetus behind both plans, but we have a few specific improvements we want. More immediate attention is needed to safe walking and crossing Kent Avenue and the Pulaski Bridge needs a study that will ultimately lead to more space for walking and biking long-term.

Contact transportation@nag-brooklyn.org to let us know if you're coming.

More Transportation Thoughts

If you haven't seen it yet, please read Ward Dennis's very thoughtful thoughts about Kent Avenue in response to Wednesday's community board meeting. An excerpt:

All of the problems with the Greenway are problems of implementation, and they are indicative of a complete lack of comprehensive transportation planning on the part of the City. Which really should not be a surprise to anyone. CB1 Transportation Chair Teresa Toro has been calling for a comprehensive transportation study for years. CB1 requested this during the 2005 rezoning, and was told it was not necessary. Every time the issue is raised, DOT says that existing transportation policy and infrastructure is adequate to meet our needs.

Chicken, meet roost.

The problem with Kent Avenue is not the Greenway. The problem is that DOT is asking Kent Avenue to do too much. They want Kent to be a two-way truck route, with existing manufacturing users on the east side of the street and new residential/commercial uses on the west side of the street. Add to that the temporary bike lanes (or the future Greenway), and there is just not enough room.

Read more

Support the New Kent Avenue Bike Lane This Wednesday!

This came to us from the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. The new bike lanes on Kent Ave are a massive improvement in safety over its previous incarnation of "truck-bike death races."

Next we need some traffic lights to help people get across the street and to keep drivers from going 50 mph on the long stretches without any lights. And after that, we can get the full greenway built, which will benefit pedestrians as well as bikers, and will add hundreds of street trees.

Please attend tomorrow night's Brooklyn Community Board 1 meeting to speak out in favor of the new Kent Avenue bike lane, a key route in the Brooklyn bike network and a vital link in the future Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

CB1 Transportation Committee Meeting
Wednesday, November 12th, 6:30PM
211 Ainslie Street, corner of Manhattan Avenue, Williamsburg
Registration for public speaking ENDS at 6:15PM (be sure to get there by 6:00PM and sign up!)

The new Kent Avenue bike lane is already filling up with cyclists. But despite broad public support, the lane has its detractors. It is imperative that local cyclists and supporters of livable streets attend Wednesday night's meeting, sign up to and continue to speak in favor of this important transportation improvement for the neighborhood, for now and for the future!

Update: Photo courtesty I'm Just Sayin
More coverage at I'm Just Sayin

Guest Post: Safe Biking in North Brooklyn

Because building safe on-street bicycle facilities is being debated hotly in the community, we invited Andrew Barwick, the biker in the limo-bike crash last week, to weigh in with his view of how to make biking safer in our neighborhood.

(Since there is a tendency for "flame wars" to break out over bike-related issues, I would urge you to read our comment guidelines in the sidebar before posting a response)

To those unaware, Community Board 1 is currently in a debate over whether or not to install a bike lane on Kent Avenue. According to bike lane foes, Williamsburg is already saturated with enough bike lanes running North-South, and that to earmark more road space on Kent avenue would be overkill. Teresa Toro's (Committee Chair of CB1) very logical argument against this reasoning is, that because Kent Avenue is the shortest, most direct route between north and south Brooklyn, it is naturally favored by cyclists and motorists alike. I myself rarely use the lanes on Wythe and Bedford/Berry, unless I am forced off of Kent by a glut of construction vehicles. I won't go into the various advantages of Kent over neighboring streets (less intersections, scenic waterfront views, etc.) in the interest of space.

As a cyclist who uses Kent to get to and from work everyday, I am well aware of the dangers in using it, and I exercise the additional requisite caution and respect. And yet still on Tuesday morning, while cycling to work northbound on Kent Avenue at N 7th Street, a south-bound Northside Car & Limo sedan made a left-hand turn on to N 7th Street directly across my path. The driver neither yielded nor slowed even though I was presently crossing the intersection. To avoid going up onto his hood, I had to slam on both brakes, the sudden stop flipping me over the handebars, and throwing me directly in front of his bumper. Reckless driving habits aside, this driver might have been more cautious had there been a bike lane present to alert him to the possible presence of cyclists.

Personally I believe a bike lane on Kent Ave would underline to motorists, that YES, this is a multi-use roadway and not a freeway. It would encourage motorists to anticipate the presence of cyclists and other users, even if none are immediately visible. This would do a great deal towards preventing accidents. A bike lane would also encourage cyclists to ride on the correct side of the road, as well as in the correct direction by accommodating a piece of roadway in which to do so.

I will be the first to admit that while the burgeoning bike culture in New York is a great thing, it has brought with it terrible road etiquette and behavior exhibited by new cyclists and those that simply can't be bothered. Bike lanes are a reminder to cyclists as well, that like motorists, they themselves have a responsibility for their own decisions and actions on the road.

We all share the same streets to get to where we need to go, conveniently and safely. Sometimes we give a greater priority to getting someplace quickly over using our common sense in certain situations. It is my hope that through better roadway design and markings, driver/cyclist education, and activism; that bicycling will someday soon gain widespread acceptance as a viable mode of transportation in the city for those that choose it.

Andrew Barwick