'Treacherous' Murray Hill Bike Lane Eyed For Improvements

MURRAY HILL, NY — A stretch of a bike lane along First Avenue is "treacherous" for cyclists, a local politician eyeing the area for improvement said.

Councilmember Keith Powers, who represents Murray Hill, is looking into ways to improve the stretch of bike lane in the wake of an uptick in cyclist deaths and plans to add more bike lanes.

"As we discuss improving cyclist safety citywide, it's important that we improve existing bike lanes in addition to installing new ones," Powers said on Twitter.

Cycling north along First Avenue, the avenue's green-painted protected bike lane dumps cyclists in between two lanes of traffic along a white-painted bike lane.

Powers, who has also biked there between his apartment and district office, "witnessed a car driving in the bike lane, almost running over the cyclist that was operating as designed," he said.

For regular east side commuters, the area is the scourge of their commute.

"It's a harrowing experience," said CJ Bretillon, who commutes home to Dutch Kills, Queens from Kips Bay along the avenue.

Car drivers speed up towards the First Avenue tunnel, or otherwise change lanes towards the left when they realize the tunnel is coming up, said another cyclist Jake Schmidt, who lives just north of the intersection.

"Since I started biking, I've gotten progressively more conservative in how I treat it," Schmidt said. At 40th Street, the bike lane is shrouded by scaffolding and is often used by pedestrians, he said.

"It's actually hard to tell that the temporary bike lane is supposed to be a bike lane; it looks more like a temporary sidewalk, and a lot pedestrians end up in there," said Schmidt.

One time when he took that section of the bike lane, he ended up stopping at the end and lifting a Citi Bike over a ledge onto a sidewalk to get out of the road where the protected bike lane ends for a block.

Added Bretillon, "You're like a bag of flesh sitting in between cars either going straight or left."

"Those two parts of my commute [home] are probably the worst. ... Second Avenue is another story."

Powers' office is looking into ways to improve the bike lane and plans to reach out to the Department of Transportation, his office said.

A DOT spokesperson said the department "is looking for opportunities to improve bike lane designs where feasible."

"This location could be a candidate for improvements, and we will take a look in the coming months,"the spokesperson said.

As we discuss improving cyclist safety citywide, it’s important that we improve existing bike lanes in addition to installing new ones.

This stretch along 1st Ave btwn. 41st & 42nd Streets is treacherous — one has to ride between traffic without real markings or protection. pic.twitter.com/F1hWR04N2S
— Keith Powers (@KeithPowersNYC) July 30, 2019