I was in the East Village today and was happy to see that construction has begun on the fully-protected bike lane along Second Avenue (see photo). For the last month or so, I've been teaching yoga classes on the Upper East Side. At first, I tried to bike to class, but riding between Houston and 86th Street on First Avenue was so stressful and unpleasant that I finally gave up. Now I bike across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan get on the 4/5 at City Hall to avoid the bike-lane deprived eastern half of the island.
Having followed Streetsblog's updates on the city's planned improvements to bike and bus lanes along First and Second Avenues, I'm excited to see that protected bike lanes are slotted for construction this year between 34th Street and Houston on First Avenue, and between 14th Street and Houston on Second.
However, it's disappointing that the city has chosen not to continue the protected bike lanes further north, instead leaving cyclists to compete with speeding cabs, double-parked trucks and Queensborough Bridge gridlock throughout midtown, the Upper East Side and East Harlem. So I guess for the foreseeable future, I'll be riding the train to work on the UES.
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