CB 7 Postpones Vote on Controversial 72nd St. Bike Lane
Community Board 7, which had originally scheduled a vote on May 5 on the proposed river-to-river bike lane that the Department of Transportation wants to build on West 72nd Street, has postponed the vote until June 2.
| 06 May 2026 | 01:58
A nine-foot-wide, two-way bike lane is envisioned for the north side of W. 72nd as part of the river-to-river bike lane.being proposed by the Department of Transportation. Some locals are objecting. (
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The proposed bike lane on the West Side would start at Riverside Blvd and run across W. 72nd St. and through Central Park to the east side. (
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The public will have to wait another month to learn the fate of the controversial two-way bike lane on West 72nd Street. Community Board 7 meets the first Tuesday of every month and was supposed to have its final vote on the controversial protected bike lane on May 5. But at the top of its agenda for the May 5th meeting, a notice in bright red letters announced
72nd Street Redesign discussion will be on June 2, 2026
“The full board vote was moved to give more time for community input,” said Community Board Chair Alex Morgan Bell in a statement to the Spirit.
At least part of the community is up in arms over the issue, as expressed not only at a May 2 protest, but at an April 14 transportation committee board meeting, where scores of Upper West Side residents and business owners got one minute each to state their concerns about the proposed two-way bike lanes. A small percentage of commenters were in favor of building a 72nd St. bike lane, which would stretch from Riverside Drive to Central Park and eventually all the way to the East River.
The plans for the East Side do not appear to be as far along and are expected to be unveiled in the fall.
The majority at the CB 7 Transportation committee hearing said they were worried that the city’s Department of Transportation will bulldoze the bike lanes into existence despite public objections.
Patrick Kennedy, project manager of the DOT’s cycling and micro-mobility unit insisted at that meeting that protected bike lanes offer protection to bikers and carrry benefits for the whole community. “Protected bike lanes are not only good at improving cyclists’ safety,” said Kennedy, “they also benefit pedestrian safety, organize the roadway, they shorten crossing distances and often include signal treatments that benefit pedestrians as much as cyclists.”
The transportation committee, despite some heated objections, voted 7-2 in favor of the DOT proposal and recommended a yes vote by the full board.
City Council member Gale Brewer, while not opposing the idea said after the April 14 transportation committee vote that she feels more community input is needed.
“While many spoke in favor of the proposal, too many expressed a lack of meaningful engagement with West 72 Street and Riverside residents, local businesses, and the active block association,” said Brewer. “All next steps must include these stakeholders and real input from them for a design that achieves safety and workability.”
Will the full board take the objections more seriously?
“The postponement itself is evidence that community input matters here—we don’t delay votes to go through the motions,” responded Bell. “The board will weigh residents’ concerns substantively before any decision is made.”
The meeting is set for June 2.
Similar bike lane controversies have erupted in other parts of the city. In Brooklyn, community objections led to the removal of a protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. It was replaced with a painted, unprotected bike lane that angered bike advocates, who said the new unprotected bike lane leaves them vulnerable to dangerous traffic.
“A bunch of cars were parked in the bike lane, and suddenly I had to pass those cars by going into traffic, which is unsafe,” one cyclist named Audrey told the pro-bike Streetsblog outlet last year after the change was made. “Do I feel less safe now? Yes, absolutely.”
Controversy also surrounds a bike lane that the Mamdani administration and the DOT want to put on 31st St. in Queens.
About 20 firefighters packed a community board meeting on April 21 to oppose that protected-bike-lane plan. “Putting bike lanes in that area is going to jeopardize the lives of residents living along 31st Street because our ladders will not reach the third floor,” local firefighter Mike Schreibner, also an avid cyclist told New York Post. But the community board board approved the project anyway, the Post reported.
In the latest bid to block it, more than a dozen Astoria business owners filed a lawsuit in Queens Supreme Court on May 1, claiming the city is acting in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner by pushing for it over community objections.