Downtown BK Has 2 Of Most Dangerous Intersections For Cyclists

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — As cyclist deaths in the city continue to rise this year, urban planners have identified a list of dangerous intersections not well equipped to keep the rising cyclist population safe. Two of those intersections are just a few blocks from each other in Downtown Brooklyn.

The intersection where Jay Street meets Tillary Street, where bikers were injured 20 times in the last five years, tied for second place on a list of the most dangerous intersections for cyclists recently released by researchers at Localize.city. Not far behind was Jay Street's Myrtle Avenue intersection, which tied for seventh place on the list with 14 injuries between 2014 and 2018, the researchers found.

Both intersections have a bike lane, but researchers found that at least at Tillary Street, the lane doesn't have th protections it needs to keep cyclists safe.

“While some bike lanes are marked, such a major bike route needs to be protected with better marked lanes,” Localize.city Urban Planner Dan Levine said about the Tillary Street intersection.

At Myrtle Avenue, the bike lane was put in in 2016, the report noted. That lane is physically separated from car traffic and is wider than a normal bike lane, but buses use the bike lane, too, planner Sam Sklar said.

The two Jay Street intersections joined a few other spots in Brooklyn that made the list, including Graham and Grand avenues and Roebling Street and South 4th Street in Williamsburg, which both tied for seventh.

The study comes out as the city is working to address a spike in cyclist deaths this year. Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $58 million plan to increase bike lanes and traffic enforcements after 17 cyclists died so far in 2019, up from 10 in all of 2018.

That count went up to 18 on Monday when another cyclist was killed in Sunset Park.

“Experts and the city already know where the dangerous intersections are and what makes them so unsafe," Sklar said. "Our job at Localize.city is to ensure all New Yorkers are informed. If you’re thinking about taking up cycling you should know if the intersections and streets near your home are dangerous. If you’re moving and cycling is important to you, we want you to find a home that will be safe to cycle to and from.”

Here are the other intersections that Localize.city determined to be the most dangerous: