East Side Jealous of West Side's Bike and Pedestrian Paths

The Choke Point via Google Street View

The west side of Manhattan is an idyllic utopia along the river, where an interconnected series of parks and paths give New Yorkers the ability to travel on foot or by bike from the Battery up to Washington Heights, without mingling with motor vehicles. Much of the route along the Hudson River is green and well-maintained, which makes the contrast with the shabby East Side all the more striking. And so over the weekend Transportation Alternatives held a bike ride press opp along the East River to highlight his side's glaring inadequacy.

Parks Department's assistant commissioner Joshua Laird joined the ride, and told the Daily News, "There is really no space. That's the issue of the upper East Side." Standing in the way of a contiguous bike/pedestrian path along the East River are such formidable obstacles as the UN, the FDR Drive, Bellevue, and the Con Edison plant on East 14th Street. That last structure is notorious for causing a ludicrously narrow "choke point," where the path is reduced to a thin, four feet wide sliver of concrete between the FDR and one wall of the plant. One local jogger at the choke point tells the News, "It's terrible. Can't they narrow the highway?"

Ha. Council member Daniel Garodnick is hoping the city can at least work out some deal to persuade the UN to give up two buildings on East 45th to facilitate a contiguous pathway along the water. But who knows if or when that will ever happen. In the meantime, East Siders can just keep choking on their envy.

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By John Del Signore in News on September 27, 2010 2:10 PM

Comments [rss]

myfknight

what about Queens, folks on the other island?

Ed

A continuous bike path -one that has sufficient space and is kept in good repair- down the East Side would give people living there a realistic option of biking to work downtown. To do this now means a potentially suicidal run through midtown traffic. This would be good to have in the light of subway fare increases and services cuts, especially given the overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue line. It would also mean savings of about $500 a year in subway fare, as commuters could ditch the monthly card in favor of a regular card, used half as often or less.

I agree with the other commentators that it would be better to do this by carving out a lane on 2nd Avenue or 1st Avenue, preferably 1st Avenue since 2nd Avenue seems to be a key traffic artery for drivers. The city should explore converting 1st Avenue into a two way busses-bikes-emergency vehicles only artery (allowing delivery trucks at certain times), and getting the busses off of 2nd Avenue to lessen the blow to drivers.

There probably is not anough space to make an East River bike path feasible. What is there now is not great for jogging because you are breathing car exhaust fumes from the FDR drive for much of the way.

Tower18

None of the avenues are going away, as long as the other avenues stay one-way. If you convert 1st Avenue to buses and bikes only, that just moves all the East Side uptown traffic over to 3rd Ave, probably creating a giant clusterfuck. Also consider the traffic problems you'd create in the low 60s from cars exiting the Queensboro Bridge fighting through side streets to get to Third Ave, since 1st is no longer available.

random transplant

With all due respect to Councilmen Garodnick, I'm not sure this would be too cost effective.

Could they install those plastic pylons running up 1st & 2nd to make "segregated" bike paths instead?

It seems like this might be cheaper than physically moving buildings & infrastructure, plus it would be more direct for commuting cyclists.

The more you make the East Side like the West side, the more joggers & tourists cancel out any improvements you make.

The East River park deserves funding as a park not a highway - cramming bikes and parks together gets hairy in other parts of the city. Seems like a well intentioned initiative, though.

myfknight

what about Queens, folks on the other island?

eflash

how about bike lanes on 1st and 2nd ave all the way up? both have some lovely lanes downtown.

Ken

They should do something, though I understand if it's not feasible with the configuration of property on that side. Cantilevered bike paths extending out into the river to circumvent the UN, ConEd plant, etc, maybe?

At the least, they should resurface what does exist down by the ball parks. I almost broke my neck riding over the potholes and gouges that are in the asphalt on Saturday night.

dollarmenu

Agreed, the pavement is an unbelieveable mess down there. And to add insult to injury, the worst patches also seem to be the most poorly-lit. I sometimes have to strain to see what I'm riding into it's so dark at points.

Fergs34

Not enough space? Fair enough. But the east side bike/running path is an awful, awful condition. There are potholes everywhere. At least repave it.