Pulaski Bridge Bike Lane Stops Cyclist-Pedestrian Crashes: Study

GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN — A long-awaited bike lane put in on the Pulaski Bridge three years ago has largely eliminated the potential for pedestrian-cyclist crashes that once plagued the busy shared path, a nonprofit said this week.

In the first study of the new Brooklyn-Queens connecting path, researchers found that the lane has not only increased the number of cyclists using the bridge, but eliminated conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists that were "commonplace" before it was installed in 2016, according to the Bike New York study.

Before the $4.9 million lane added a bike-only section to the bridge, cyclists struggled to navigate a crowded path that was shared by pedestrians and bikes, said Jon Orcutt, communications director for Bike New York.

"...Go back to 2015 and imagine hundreds of cyclists also in the pedestrian path," Orcutt said, recalling his own collision with a jogger on the path nearly a decade ago. "(Those conflicts) are eliminated because the pedestrians and bike riders are now in totally separate lanes divided by a thick concrete wall."

The exact number of run-ins or near-crashes that used to happen on the bridge is difficult to say, Orcutt added, given that they were likely minor and, like his, not reported to police.

But, the difficulty to use the path given its crowds was well known, and even given as a reason for the bike lane to be put in by the Department of Transportation. The agency noted in a 2013 presentation about the lane that passing on the bridge is hard especially during times when there are a lot of people.

Researchers did say that there could be a new safety problem emerging on the path.

About 7.2 percent of the people they counted using the bike path were on motorized vehicles, whether that be electric scooters, mopeds, skateboards or Segways. These vehicles going faster than the normal bikes on the path could create safety issues or discourage cyclists from using the bike lane, the report said.

For now, though, the bike lane seems to have increased the number of cyclists using the bridge.

Researchers monitored the lane for eight hours and found that 142 cyclists used the path during peak hours, or during the morning and evening rush, and 53 used it during non-peak times.

The peak hour count is nearly 50 more than the 99-cyclist per hour average the DOT found during its count before the bike lane was put in 2013.

Most of the traffic, it seemed, was from Brooklyn residents who were likely using the bridge to commute either to Manhattan or to subway lines in Queens.

More than 75 percent of the bikes in the morning hours were headed from Brooklyn to Queens and more than 70 percent in the evening hours were headed from Queens back to Brooklyn, the report found.

Bike New York used the numbers to make several recommendations to DOT officials.

The bike path could become even more popular, they said, should bike lane networks on either end of the bridge be made more connected.

In Long Island City in particular, the Pulaski bike path opens to busy Jackson Avenue, which is difficult for cyclists to navigate. On the Brooklyn side, improving existing bike lanes and building more on what is known as the "Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway" would make cyclists more likely to take up riding in the neighborhood.

Transportation officials should also do their own studies of the bike path and release the results to the public, the report contended. Researchers said they found a bike counter built into the path, but couldn't be sure if it was functioning. A letter sent to DOT asking for data from the counter went unanswered, they said.