Mayor Bill de Blasio Unveils 'Green Wave' Bike Plan To Keep Cyclists Safe

De Blasio at today's press conference in Bay Ridge

Mayor Bill de Blasio intends to confront the recent uptick in cyclist fatalities with a five-year, $58.4 million plan aimed at building out more bike lanes, redesigning deadly intersections, and stepping up enforcement.

Dubbed the "Green Wave Bicycle Plan," the 24-page blueprint calls for the addition of 30 miles of new protected bike lanes each year, up from the current rate of about 20. The Department of Transportation will also begin implementing traffic calming treatments at fifty of the city's most dangerous intersections, while the NYPD's three-week campaign targeting dangerous drivers will be extended indefinitely.

The precise location of the new bike lanes remains uncertain, with one notable exceptions: the city will reinstall a quietly ripped out two-way protected bike lane on Dyckman Street in Upper Manhattan.

"We think it's a very strong plan," Marco Conner of Transportation Alternatives told Gothamist. "It's not perfect, but it has some critical elements."

Conner praised the city's intention to begin exploring automated enforcement technologies to keep bike lanes clear, as well as the focus on building out bike infrastructure in neighborhoods that have historically been left out of road safety updates. Eighty new employees will be hired by the DOT to help with the street improvements.

As part of the plan, ten priority districts—encompassing Bay Ridge, Sheepshead Bay, Brownsville, Midwood, Jackson Heights, Corona and East Elmhurst—will see 75 miles of new bike lanes built over the next three years. The focus will be on areas that are both underserved by bike infrastructure and hot spots for cyclist fatalities.

Of the 17 total cyclists who have died in city streets this year, twelve of them have been killed in Brooklyn. A total of ten cyclists were killed citywide in all of last year.

"We've seen a dangerous surge in cyclist fatalities," the mayor said in a statement. "Last year was the safest year on record—and we have to keep pushing the envelope and increasing our efforts. That's what this plan is about. It's a continuation of our promise."

While advocates celebrated aspects of the plan, the announcement's centerpiece—the renewed commitment to the protected bike lane network—was met with mixed reviews.

"In terms of the protected bike lane goal, I would not necessarily put it in the visionary pocket," said Conner.

City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, who serves as chairman of the Transportation Committee, said the plan was a "step in the right direction, but far more needs to be done to ensure cyclists are protected." He has previously called for the city to build out 100 miles of protected bike lanes per year.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, meanwhile, has released his own "Master Plan" for street safety, which would bring 250 miles of protected bike lanes to city streets over five years—100 more than the mayor's plan.

De Blasio's 24-page blueprint does not acknowledge Johnson's broader safe streets plan. It alludes to the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, a proposal from Councilman Brad Lander that targets repeat reckless drivers, as something the administration "supports in concept."

The "Green Wave" also neglects to mention any substantive efforts to help working cyclists.

“The Mayor should focus on making streets truly safe for the city’s immigrant workers. We need real solutions that address street safety issues that face all cyclists including delivery workers who die and are constantly put in danger from over-policing and the city's negligence,” said Do Lee of the Biking Public Project.

The report also does not include a timeline for the final stage of the Queens Boulevard bike lane, which sources say is being held up as a bargaining chip for a new jail in the area. And it does not mention providing additional training to police officers, who have in some cases seemed disinterested in enforcing Vision Zero laws.

"Right now it seems like there are 40,000 cops and 40,000 individual policies about how some of this is supposed to work—that's the part that gives this the most latency," said Jon Orcutt, who previously served as a policy director for the Department of Transportation, and now works at Bike New York.

Still, Orcutt said he was cautiously optimistic about the plan. "A fifty percent increase in [protected bike lane] output is nothing to sneeze at," he told Gothamist. "There are questions about design that we're still waiting to see, but overall this looks good."

Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated that the new plan would speed up installation of the 4th Avenue bike lane in Brooklyn. A spokesperson for the DOT has since confirmed that this is not the case. The long-delayed bike lane is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, with "some portions being subject to construction delays, [to] be completed next year."

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