Blocking Bike Lanes At Construction Sites Will Soon Be Illegal

EAST VILLAGE, NY — New city rules backed by an unanimously passed City Council bill will make bike lanes safer at construction sites, the Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.

The bill, which passed City Council Wednesday, would require bike lanes at construction sites to be maintained and explicitly marked during on-street work — rather than blocking bike lanes and forcing cyclists into traffic with only a caution sign.

With DOT support, the bill was passed in coordination with a set of guidelines for the construction industry released Wednesday.

"When construction impacts a bike lane it doesn't just inconvenience bicyclists — it becomes a public safety hazard to all New Yorkers who have to navigate around these projects," Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who sponsored the bill and represents the Lower East Side through the East Village and Gramercy, said in a statement.

The rules had not been updated in more than 10 years, DOT said.

Previously, the requirement was to post a sign saying "Construction in Bike Lane Proceed with Caution."

The guidelines give contractors a protocol for how to demarcate bikeways with cones and signage — which differ between one-way and two-way streets, as well as whether the lane is a green protected lane or just a white-painted bike lane.

Contractors can face violations, fines, or even have their permits revoked if they don't follow the rules, DOT said. Construction workers will have a grace period to fix the sites, DOT said.

For new construction permits, the DOT's rules already went into effect May 13, according to a DOT spokeswoman.

"As New York City has boomed with population, jobs and tourism over the last few years, large-scale construction projects have become something of a way of life," DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement. "However, contractors need to know that the sidewalks and streets in front of such projects need to remain safe and completely passable for all users, including cyclists."

Rivera added the DOT's new rules will go "a long way towards accomplish[ing] our Vision Zero goals."

Rivera's construction site bike lane bill passed alongside another major street safety initiative — the Vision Zero Street Design Standard bill, which requires the city to develop a checklist of safety-enhancing street designs that the DOT must consider, Streetsblog reported Thursday.

That bill is veto-proof, with some 46 council members co-sponsoring the bill — originally opposed by the de Blasio administration's DOT at a hearing last summer, but which now appears to have the administration's backing, per Streetsblog.

Street safety and transit advocates group Transportation Alternatives urged Mayor Bill de Blasio to sign the legislation Wednesday — noting 69 people have died in traffic in 2019.

"By requiring a more systematic approach to preventing injury and death on our streets, the Vision Zero Street Design Standard discourages the arbitrary and politically-driven omission of life-saving interventions while giving street design experts the flexibility to implement context sensitive solutions that prioritize safety above all else," TransAlt interim co-executive director Marco Conner said in a statement.

Another bike lane safety effort has shown success in a report released this week.

A pilot program report showed that allowing cyclists to bike through intersections when the pedestrian signals light up instead of waiting for the green light is safer for both pedestrians and cyclists. A bill to codify the so-called "head start" for cyclists is backed by the de Blasio administration.