Jackson Heights Life

Hey Everyone! I'm a student at The New School and for my constructed environment class we were asked to choose a neighborhood in NYC and find something in the area that could be improved or if we saw something in need for the neighborhood. I observed that there were no bike lanes on Roosevelt Avenue and that it seems unsafe for people riding bikes there. I was just wondering if you feel bike lanes are needed in the neighborhood and on Roosevelt Avenue? I would love the input and thoughts of people actually living in the neighborhood and the community!

Drivers are terrible here, double parking everywhere, not yielding to pedestrians. Bike lanes will get people killed

Horrible idea. Roosevelt is already too congested. Having bike lanes there is much too dangerous.

I think on Roosevelt it's better to ride with traffic. It's slow enough (or should be)

Also, after a cyclist was killed at LaGuardia Airport, the response was to close that road to cyclists. It was very dangerous to ride on. However, Port Authority just permanently closed a popular bike route in to LGA at 27th Ave bridge over to the Promenade.

Bike routes to and within LaGuardia are a hot topic. There was sufficient need for them before, construction exacerbated it, with the need for workers to get around the driving congestion, and now- with the horrible response from PANYNJ. They have a bike master plan for all their locations, and research on that might lead to better cycling infrastructure when construction is complete. I'd pick this as a first choice, and include bike parking structures that are safe and secure. (and when you're drawing it out, add a bunch of Citibike stations!)

I second the idea put forth by missmarty to have a bike lane on Broadway between Northern Boulevard and Queens Boulevard.

Broadway is already very wide indeed so there is ample space to do it. A bike lane on this particular stretch would be very encouraging for JH residents to commute to Manhattan by bike.

hi, taylj052
I encourage you to look into our problem of park access. There are not enough parks in Jackson Heights/East Elmhurst areas. Maybe you can find creative solutions to improve and increase green urban space.

As for bike lanes, Roosevelt Ave. is a complicated issue and I think it's highly unlikely that either the DOT would propose or the community board would approve a bike lane there. I second Miss Marty's alternatives, if proposing bike lanes is an issue that's close to your heart.

NYC DOT has come up with the following bike lanes projects, in part as a response to the community's request to improve park access:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/31st-ave-cb3-bike-lane-jun2016.pdf

They are a small improvement, but not enough.

One interesting problem would be to somehow create a protected bike lane on 31st avenue. But it's not easy, the street is not wide enough to accommodate current protected bike lane standards and removing too many parking spaces would kill the bike lane in the community board. So, good luck with that. But, hey, this the kind of problem you're signing up for.

Another interesting problem to solve is how to improve awareness and access to Flushing Bay Promenade. It is a decent, yet neglected, 1. 3 promenade by Flushing Bay, near LGA. It is not well known and not used often enough by the community, because access to it is difficult.

On the link that I shared above, the DOT outlined a clear bike route that takes people to the promenade. The problem is that none of those bike lanes are protected and some are shared lanes. Many unexperienced riders could get confused by the pavement markings or would be afraid of riding in shared lanes (even though these routes are mostly along fairly calm streets).

Finally, I would suggest that you consider working on a cheap wayfinding solution that can help people get oriented within these routes. Ideally something that could be stenciled on the pavement.

Good luck.