Abreu asks DOT about protected bike intersections

Protected bike lanes keep riders safe for the length of a block, but then end at the intersection.

With protected intersections, on the other hand, the bike lane is extended around the intersection, which offers a significant benefit for cyclist safety.

Other cities in the United States, like Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco, implement these types of protections.

Given a majority of crashes occurring at intersections, why do we not have protected bike intersections in New York City?

And would you like to see more of that?

Thank you.

We certainly see the value of protected intersections.

It is something that we've started to incorporate into our toolbox, and you can see examples of that around the city.

I would say that we're increasing our use of it.

I know it's a new thing, and I understand that it's all about a resource question.

But let us know where.

Where you see that on the agenda when you do have the– if you can maybe answer it now, Mr.

Beaton, that would be great.

Sure.

I like pronouncing your name.

Thank you.

I remember earlier this year I had fun pronouncing your name.

I like it too.

Thank you.

But I would say there's two different things.

First, when we do new bike lanes, they are typically, we use the so-called protected intersection or Dutch-style intersection design.

And the places we don't use it are places that might have a very high number of turns where something like a split phase for traffic might make sense, right?

We want to make sure we're using the right thing at the right place.

We also are going back to many of the bike lanes that have older designs, and we go back and add the protected style intersection.

And, for example, when we repave a street that has a bike lane, we don't just put back exactly what was there.

We go and we make sure we're upgrading it to the latest designs.

And that takes work.

We don't get mileage credit for that kind of work, but we still think it's really important in delivering the safest bike network possible.

Moving forward, when you are...

Constructing protected bike lanes and shovels already on the ground.

Is it fair to say that protected bike intersections could just be added as part of those projects without

being a significant cost.

That's right.

When we're doing new lanes, we always want to do the safest thing possible at the intersection, which in many cases is that protected intersection.

Can we see that in future projects?

I think you see that in a lot of the projects going in right now, really all the projects going in right now, that it's incorporated into the work that we do, yes.

And then retroactively, the protected bike lanes where they were not being implemented, was the...

agency's realistic ability here to go back and add these bike intersections, protected bike intersections?

So we certainly go back and add them anytime we're redoing the markings on the corridor, such as after resurfacing, or if we're seeing crash-related issues on a corridor, we'll go back and redesign as well.

All right.

So as more streets get milled and repaved, are they being implemented?

We'll ask about that at the annual street hearing we do next year.