Central Park West Bike Lane Will Be Finished This Year, City Says

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — A protected bike lane on Central Park West that survived a legal challenge last year will be one of eight Manhattan bike paths completed in 2020, officials announced this week.

The second phase of adding a protected bike path to the park-adjacent street, which will extend the lane up from West 77th Street to West 110th, is one of the projects transportation officials will focus on finishing this year, the city announced Wednesday in an update on Mayor Bill de Blasio's Green Wave plan.

The Upper West Side lane was first proposed after the 2018 death of Australian tourist Madison Jane Lyden, who was forced to swerve from the then-unprotected bike lane into traffic. It was then challenged in a lawsuit, which was eventually dismissed, by a local condominium who accused the city of not sufficiently reviewing the plan.

The bike path, which was then approved by local officials, eliminates 400 parking spots to create a protected version of the lane from West 59th to 110th streets.

Lost parking spots are replaced by a 7-foot-wide buffer zone equipped with flexible delineators to separate cars from cyclists. Traffic lanes will not be removed from the avenue, according to the city.

The Central Park West path is one of eight in Manhattan that the city plans to complete this year as part of its plan to add 30 more miles of protected bike lanes in 2020. The city built 21.4 miles of new protected bike lanes in 2019, according to a DOT report released Wednesday.

Here are where the other bike lanes will go:

• 6th Avenue, Midtown: A protected lane along 6th Avenue will be added in Midtown, extending the existing uptown lane from Herald Square to Central Park.

• Central Park West, Upper West Side: The second phase of this uptown lane will be completed in 2020, extending to 110thStreet.

• 5th Avenue, Harlem: A new two-way protected lane will be installed from 120th to 110th Streets connecting Central Park and Marcus Garvey Park.

• St Nicholas Avenue, Washington Heights: Protected lanes will be added in both directions between 165th and 170th Streets.

• Manhattan Waterfront Greenway connection, Lower East Side: A new protected route will be added in Alphabet City to accommodate greenway riders during East River Park construction.

• Lower Manhattan Network: DOT will fill in the protected-lane network on several critical corridors in Lower Manhattan including lower Broadway, Whitehall Street, West Broadway, Varick Street, Church Street and 6th Avenue.

• Queensboro Bridge Connectors, Midtown: PBLs will be added to several crosstown approaches to the bridge.

• Additional Crosstown Lanes, Midtown: DOT is finalizing the most feasible streets on which to add a new set of crosstown lanes to complement the crosstown lanes that have been added since 2018 on 26th/29th and 52nd/ 55th Streets.