Protected bike lanes and sidewalks will be installed on Cypress Avenue to provide a safe connection to Highland Park on the Brooklyn-Queens border, where traffic currently predominates on and off Jackie Robinson Parkway.
The Department of Transportation plans to create a two-lane bike lane protected from traffic by guardrails and new sidewalks between Cooper Avenue and Cypress Hills Street, according to a draft plan presented to the local council in June.
The improvements mean pedestrians and cyclists will no longer have to dodge traffic coming from and traveling along Jackie Robinson Parkway to get to the park and nearby cemeteries, a local activist said.
“It’s a win-win situation,” said Bree Mobley, a volunteer organizer with the Ridgewood Riders, a cycling group that has been pushing for the improvements for years. “Let’s make it happen, let’s create park access in the neighborhood.”
Cypress Avenue is a steep, wide and busy thoroughfare between cemeteries and heavily trafficked from the nearby freeway. These dangerous conditions make it difficult for people to get from Ridgewood and Bushwick to Highland Park, even though it is only a mile away, Mobley said.
“It’s not for the faint of heart,” said the safer roads advocate. “People are speeding past you at 30 to 40 miles an hour. They don’t care, they’re just trying to get on the highway as fast as they can.”
In particular, the intersection of Cypress Avenue and Cooper Avenue is a known danger zone with a long history of accidents.
Ridgewood Rides and representatives from Transportation Alternatives have collected nearly 1,000 signatures online calling for safer access to the park.
The project even received support from local councillor Bob Holden, who opposed other efforts to promote cycling in the city.
“Council Member Holden supports the project because it makes sense for the community,” Holden spokesman Daniel Kurzyna said in a statement. “This dedicated path benefits those who bike to and from Ridgewood Reservoir and addresses a broader quality of life issue along Cypress Avenue. It’s a solution that works well for everyone.”
The Department of Transportation plans to add a two-lane bike lane with guardrails along the north curb, between 4 and 6 feet wide in each direction, according to a proposal the agency presented to Queens Community Board 5 in June (PDF).
The bike lanes are widest at 1.83 m between Cypress Hills Street and Vermont Place and then narrow to 1.98 to 1.22 m as they head west to Cooper Avenue.
The Department of Transportation is also constructing sidewalks that are currently missing on portions of the north side of Cypress Avenue and the east side of Vermont Place near Jackie Robinson.
The project is surrounded by areas with high levels of traffic accidents and fatalities, which the Department of Transportation calls Vision Zero Priority Corridors. According to the city, 166 accidents have been reported on the 0.8-mile stretch of Cypress over the past three years, injuring 99 people.
In the future, the city hopes to connect the Cypress Avenue bike lanes to the network of unprotected bike lanes in Bushwick via Cooper Avenue and Decatur Street, as well as better pedestrian connections in Highland Park and improvements to intersections.
The Ministry of Transport did not respond to requests for comment on the planned timing of the construction of the new cycle path.
