Bike crashes and the Streets Master Plan

Host intro:

It’s been six years since the Street Master Plan law was introduced, promising to usher in a new era of street safety for New York City residents including protected bike lanes for the 30 percent of New Yorkers who ride a bike. Yet as Flora Warshaw reports, this is the third year in a row that the Department of Transportation has failed to meet the goals it set out.  

Warshaw:

On the corner of 149th street and St Anns here in Mott Haven in the Bronx it’s business as usual this afternoon. Kids are being picked up from school. People are walking into the Burger King behind me. Yet just last week an MTA bus struck and killed a cyclist here. According to the non-profit Transportation Alternatives, traffic violence killed 25 New York cyclists last year and 85% were killed on streets without protected bicycle infrastructure. Kevin Daloia, a Bronx local, has taken matters into his own hands to highlight this issue.. 

Daloia:

 throughout New York City, we uh, place what we call ghost bikes as memorials and as dedications to somebody who was riding a bicycle and was killed either with traffic, violence or just on their bicycle alone.

(Warshaw):  And why did you decide to get involved in this movement?

Daloia: 

In my neighborhood and I live in Throggs neck, um, a young man, 23 years old was hit and killed in a hit and run crash on Tremont Avenue.

And it didn't seem like the public seemed to, you know, publicize it too well right away. 

 I have a ghost bike right across the street.

I have a ghost bike right here where we're standing on this, uh, north east corner. I have a ghost bike on hundred 41st Street and Brooke, I gotta put a second one up here now. So we're talking in a four block area that there's four bicycle fatalities that immediately should put up a flag. 

Warshaw:

The government did promise to do more in preventing deaths like these. In 2019 the “New York City Streets Master Plan,” was brought in. It promised several benchmarks including 250 miles of protected bike lanes by 2026. A protected bike lane is simply a physical barrier, like a curb or even planters, separating the cycling lane from the main road. Alexa Sledge, from Transportation Alternatives, says she’s disappointed by the mayor’s failure to follow through with the plan.

Sledge:

 Unfortunately every year that, uh, mayor Adams has been in office, he hasn't met those legal benchmarks. So every single year, he has not built a number of bike lanes that are legally required for him to build. So he is breaking the law every single year when it comes to the streets plan.

Warshaw:

Last year, the Department of Transportation fell short of hitting its required goals, only succeeding in creating just over half of the planned 50 bike lanes for that year. 

Activists are not the only ones holding the mayor accountable. At a city council hearing in January, the DOT had to defend its progress of the streets master plan. Kevin McAleer, a representative for councilmember Lynn Shulman from Queens wants more transparency on the issue.

McAleer: 

 Um, yeah, I, we think it's, it's disappointing that, um, you know, the, the administration is not holding up their end of the bargain when it comes to implementation of the law. Um, you know, there's obviously. Limitations that they face, but that shouldn't preclude them from following city legislation to the letter.

Warshaw: 

I reached out to the DOT for comment and i was referred to a press statement. It emphasized that despite not meeting the benchmarks laid out by the Plan, the DOT has still installed an all-time high 87.5 miles of protected bike lane miles and upgraded an additional 20 plus miles. The DOT says its made this progress despite facing issues such as a lack of funding and the Covid pandemic. And it will continue to strive to meet the goals laid out in the plan. Flora Warshaw, Columbia Radio News