Brownsville Is Now A Bike Priority District For Mayor: Report

BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN — Brownsville will get new bike lanes under the city's $58 million cycling safety plan after Ernest Askew lost his life while riding his bike.

Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan to expand protected bike lanes two days after two cyclists were killed within a four-hour timespan Tuesday and this year's death toll spiked to 17, The New York Times reported.

The plan will establish 10 "bike priority districts" — areas with few bike lines and high numbers of cycling fatalities — in Brownsville, Bay Ridge, Midwood and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn as well as Corona, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights in Queens, the report says.

After Askew was killed on a street without a bike lane, cycling advocates and elected officials chastised the city for excluding communities of color from its safety plans.

"When it comes to street safety, black and brown neighborhoods like Brownsville have been left out of the conversation," said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams at a rally after Askew's death. "That needs to change."

De Blasio's plan also calls for revamping dangerous intersections, tweaking traffic signals and adding 30 miles of protected bike lanes a year, up from the current average pace of 20 miles each year, he told the Times.

"No loss of life on our streets is acceptable," de Blasio he reportedly said. "Last year was the safest year on record and we have to keep pushing the envelope and increasing our efforts."

The city undertook a similar effort two years ago only to see injuries rise in eight of the 10 designated zones, Streetsblog reported.

Patch editor Noah Manskar contributed reporting.