Plumb Beach Bike Path Repairs Are Complete!
It only took the city more than five years to slap down a mere 450 feet of asphalt, but the obliterated bike path running between Plumb Beach and the Belt Parkway is finally complete.
Tipster Stephen Arthur sent us this photo of the near-complete path back in December. According to our last e-mail followup with the Parks Department, it was 80 percent complete on December 2 and they expected to be fully wrapped up by approximately December 13. It seems they hit that target date.
It’s been a long and frustrating saga for area cyclists since the path was destroyed by Hurricane Ida in November 2009:
In 2010, the city pulled a fake-out, getting the strip ready for repaving… and then calling it quits and vanishing.
It became a dangerous obstacle course. Cyclists who didn’t dismount weaved off the path, through the barrier, and cycled (sometimes against traffic) on the highway itself.
In 2012, $9 million in improvements was allocated for long-term fixes to the beach to battle erosion, as well as for the creation of Brigham Street Park. Then-Councilman Lew Fidler told Sheepshead Bites that some of those funds would cover the bike path repair, yet the Parks Department later said that, in fact, none of the allocated funds would be put to the reconstruction.
In 2013, during his last year in office, Fidler allocated $450,000 in additional funding in the city budget specifically to shore up the bike path and lay new asphalt. Parks told Sheepshead Bites in May 2014 that work was finally in the pipeline – but that there was no chance it would be done in time for summer.
