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E. 17th Street, seen from the protected bike lane on Union Square North.Photo: Max White<\/p>\nA Manhattan community board wants the Department of Transportation to go further than its plan for an unprotected bike lane on E. 17th Street from First Avenue to Park Avenue in Gramercy.<\/p>\n
Manhattan Community Board 6, which covers the east side from 14th to 59th streets, overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Feb. 12 supporting a protected bike lane over DOT’s unprotected proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re going to be putting down new bike lanes, we should get the job done right and get the full protection and the full safety benefits of a bike lane, not a half measure,\u201d Jason Froimowitz, the chair of the board\u2019s transportation committee, told Streetsblog.<\/p>\n
DOT told the board in November that it planned to add a conventional bike lane that would preserve all existing car storage on the stretch of road during a resurfacing project this summer. But board members wanted a protected bike lane, even if it meant eliminating parking spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel that the safety of people is more important than the parking,\u201d said Barak Friedman, a member of the board.<\/p>\n
Froimowitz added that the board was intentional in actively encouraging the sacrifice of parking for safer street infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The agency responded, saying it needed to conduct a feasibility study before adding a protected bike lane, a study that could take significant time to complete. Still, a resolution calling for a protected bike lane unanimously passed the board\u2019s transportation committee and the full board voted 35-4, with three abstentions, for a protected bike lane, as long as DOT completes a feasibility study before the resurfacing starts in the summer.<\/p>\n
E. 17th Street, seen from the protected bike lane on Union Square North.Photo: Max White<\/p>\n
If DOT adds a protected bike lane to E. 17th Street, a one-way westbound road, it would be a welcome addition for cyclists traveling west.<\/p>\n
The only current westbound crosstown protected bicycle lanes in the area are on 29th and 13th streets<\/a>. Union Square Park has a protected bike lane on the north and east sides, but the bike lane stops abruptly at Park Avenue South. This leaves cyclists traveling west along E. 17th Street to the park to ride into a busy four-lane road, swerving through traffic or riding along the pedestrian crosswalk.<\/p>\n Friedman said he tries to avoid the stretch of E. 17th Street without a bike lane as he doesn\u2019t feel safe cycling there.<\/p>\n \u201cYou always feel like there could be a car kind of breathing down your neck and it\u2019s just (a) very unpleasant experience and less safe; they can get behind you, start honking and then try to push you to the side and then you\u2019re in danger of a parked car opening a door on you,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s super important to us that the bike lanes be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n From January 2022 until December 2025, this stretch of E 17th Street saw 76 reported crashes<\/a>, injuring 40 people, including 13 cyclists, nine pedestrians and 16 motor vehicle occupants.<\/p>\n