Gothamist: Bike Path Barriers Being Considered

respect the double yellow

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 10:17:13 -0500

it's those two cyclists riding down the wrong side piss me off when i'm heading south on the path.

mike

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:09:09 -0500

Here's StreetsBlog's video of the memorial: http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/12/10/streetfilms-memorial-for-eric-ng/

Toby

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 23:28:50 -0500

There was work done on the path over the summer, so that could be the answer.

smitty

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:06:33 -0500

I hope some action actually gets taken. Next step: protecting pedestrians throughout this city as well by actual enforcement of traffic laws.

katie

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:42:13 -0500

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.

mike

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:36:51 -0500

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.

deep pockets

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:17:01 -0500

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.

teacher_x

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:14:37 -0500

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.

Murray Hillster

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 15:30:38 -0500

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.

maybe

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 15:27:39 -0500

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.

seth

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 14:31:56 -0500

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.

kevin bracken

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 14:31:20 -0500

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!