DOT Proposes 4th Avenue Bike Lane From Boerum Hill To Bay Ridge

Good news for bicyclists!

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing two eight-mile protected bike lanes for 4th Avenue between Boerum Hill and Bay Ridge. The lanes would be installed on the north and south sides of the avenue and span from Dean Street down to 65th Street.

A row of parked cars will protect bicyclists from vehicular traffic driving on 4th Avenue, with cyclists riding closer to the sidewalk.

Bicyclists in Sunset Park have been demanding a protected bike lane on 4th Avenue for years. This avenue provides the easiest, most direct route to Downtown Brooklyn from Bay Ridge and Sunset Park.

DOT told Sunset Park bike lane supporters that 4th Avenue wasn’t wide enough for a protected bike lane, according to Brooklyn Paper, yet in 2015 the agency presented its Great Streets plan to improve pedestrian safety along the 4th Avenue corridor by expanding the avenue’s medians by four feet on both sides.

The design did not include a bike lane at the time but did include 13 feet wide parking lanes that bicyclists presumably would have had to share with parked cars.

A group called Get Women Cycling started an online petition to add a protected bike lane on the 4th Avenue corridor—further confirming the bicycling community’s need for this DOT project.

The proposed 4th Avenue bike lanes will not need to go through the process of community board approvals, according to a DNA Info article, however DOT will begin collecting feedback from elected officials, community boards, and residents at upcoming public workshops.