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One much discussed issue in the comments following bicyclist Eric Ng's death last week is how to prevent motor vehicles from getting on the Hudson River Park bike path. The New York State Transportation Department is responsible for the path and the Times is reporting this morning that state transportation officials are considering installing bollards to keep cars away. The concrete and steel bollards are likely to replace the plastic pylons at major intersections and other locations where cars might enter the pathway.
In addition to the state Transportation Department, the Hudson River Park Trust, which operates the park and maintains the bike bath, has been talking with bicycling advocacy groups, as well as state and city agencies to address the safety problem.
The memorial ride for Eric Ng is currently underway and a memorial service is taking place at 2:30 at S. Mark's Church.
Photograph of the Hudson River Greenway by seth_holladay on Flickr
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it is definitely insane that they don't have them already!
it is also insane that they don't have more physically separated bike lanes everywhere in new york!
the picture used for this post, which appears to have been taken on May 6, 2006, shows the metal barriers that were previously on the hudson river greenway until the were removed this summer.
i am curious to know why the metal bollards were ever removed & replaced with plastic ones.
The bollard in the photo has plenty of room for a car to drive around the side of it, so it wouldn't be completely effective even if it were replaced. You'd probably need three bollards for it to work.
I don't know why they were removed, but as a frequent rider of the Westside Highway path, and someone who spends a lot of time passing people, my guess is that a lot of people have rammed into those bollards or injured avoiding them (i.e., swerving into other riders/runners/walkers). Oftentimes, while passing casual riders, I've been confronted with an oncoming bollard (for the record, the only accident I've been in was when a Parks Department golf cart rammed me while cutting across the path).
One can imagine the injuries caused by metal ones versus plastic ones.
Just a theory. Perhaps the TD figured it wasn't worth the risk of riders being injured against metal versus the risk of cars ignoring a plastic bollard.
As I rode my bike down the greenway to leave a couple of flowers on Eric Ng's ghost bike today, some driver turned onto the bike path right in front of me. Luckily, he was sober and realized his mistake, but there was really no obvious signing there. This was right in front of Chelsea Piers, where Ng's killer got on the path, too.
Some bike rider will hit the metal post and sue the city.
Someone with have a heart attack on the bike path and an ambulance won't be able to reach them. Again, sue the city.
deep pockets
other countries, which are presumably more advanced than ours (or perhaps they actually care more), have retractable bollards that can be activated by emergency services.
as for bicyclists hitting them, well, there were bollards on the lower portion of the greenway for years.
I would rather have people sueing the city over another innocent life lost. Bollards in place along the bike path in places where it is necessary to have a car driveway onto the piers will save lives in the future. The area around Chelsea Piers is confusing as it is a melange of routes for cars, pedestrians, bikers and buses. Particularly in that area, something needs to be done to designate and protect each party.
Eric was a good friend, and the fact that his life was taken away in such a reckless manner is extremely painful. We need to do something together to make sure this never happens again.
I hope some action actually gets taken. Next step: protecting pedestrians throughout this city as well by actual enforcement of traffic laws.
There was work done on the path over the summer, so that could be the answer.
Here's StreetsBlog's video of the memorial:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/12/10/streetfilms-memorial-for-eric-ng/
it's those two cyclists riding down the wrong side piss me off when i'm heading south on the path.