Judge Temporarily Blocks Move to Add Bike Lanes to West 72nd Street

A New York State judge has temporarily blocked a controversial plan to build two new bike lanes on West 72nd St. as part of a plan to make a river-to-river path for bicyclists.

Bike advocates and the Department of Transportation (DOT) say it will make West 72nd Street safer. Many residents and local seniors feel the bike lanes will pose more danger of pedestrians getting struck by speeding e-bikes, arguing that existing laws covering e-bikes are rarely enforced.

NYS Judge Dakota Ramseur in a July 14 ruling placed the temporary pause in place until a full hearing on Aug. 23 to hash out the concerns raised in a lawsuit filed by an attorney representing opponents of the bike lanes.

The attrorney, Hartley T. Bernstein, of Manhattan-based Bernstein Cherney, filed two suits one in state court and the other in federal court. In the federal lawsuit, he claims the bike lanes violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The suits in state court was filed on behalf of the 72nd Street Neighborhood Residents and Business Association which claims the DOT did not seek suitable public input from citizens opposed to the bike lanes. “The safety of pedestrians and the residents of W. 72nd Street is not even an afterthought for an administration determined to accommodate only one constituency–bicycle and e-vehicle riders.”

The suit also notes Mayor Mamdani’s recent decision to stop issuing criminal citations for e-bike violations after bike advocates argued that the the enforcement measures for e-vehicles for things like running a red light were stricter than for motor vehicle operators committing similar infractions. Bernstein argued that relaxing the penalities is “leaving reckless e-vehicle riders to ignore traffic regulations with impunity.”

The controversy has been roiling the UWS since April 14, when the Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed a plan for a protected bike lane on W. 72 Street that would allow for full crosstown access for bicyclists from the East River to the Hudson. The move would reduce the current two lanes in each direction to a single lane on each side.

After a contentious public hearing, the DOT plan was recommended for approval by Community Board 7, but it has not silenced criticism of the proposed plan.

The bike lane would run from W. 72 Street between Central Park West and Riverside Boulevard, bridging the Central Park Loop with the Hudson River Greenway. It would also link the bike lanes that go north and south on Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues.

DOT, along with the bike advocacy group Transportation Alternatives insist that this redesign will reduce traffic hazards in the neighborhood by narrowing the road and providing a protected bike lane that will cut collisions between bikes and cut pollution while making it safer for bikes to travel.

“The project will dramatically improve safety for all road users and shorten pedestrian crossing distances at intersections across Manhattan,” DOT has shared.

According to DOT data, seniors make up over 45% of pedestrian fatalities, and protected bike lanes offer a 39% decrease in those Killed or seriously Injured (KSI) and a 22% drop in overall injuries.

Objectors to the plan claim that the new design would lead to congestion in the area and lack of emergency vehicle access.

Janet Schroeder, Co-Founder and Director of NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance (EVSA), has repeatedly asserted that hospitals and the DOT report only a small percentage of e-vehicle related accidents, with the victim population reflects a much larger and unreported scope of incidents.

Earlier this year on June 1, shortly after the West 72nd Street bike lane proposal, Transportation Alternatives hosted its annual fundraiser to expand initiatives for safer streets and bike infrastructure. Right outside the gathering at the New-York Historical Society, members of EVSA gathered to protest the bike lane proposal, advocating for stricter regulations and licensing of E-vehicles.

The protest was boosted by the May 28 head-on collision on the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge which killed a cyclist and driver of an illegal scooter were both killed in a head-on collision. More recently, a 40 year-old jogger indentified only as “Jean” was in a medically induced coma after being struck from behind by an e-biker going the wrong way on West Drive in Central Park near West 64th Street on July 7. She remains hospitalized.

New Jersey recently passed stricter laws for e-bike registration and insurance. Similar legislation has been introduced in New York State where it is known as Priscilla’s Law after a retried school teacher who struck and killed by an e-bike in Chinatown, but it remains stalled in committee.