CB7\u2019s transportation committee endorsed<\/a> the redesign back in April. The board first requested a crosstown protected bike lane on W. 72nd Street back in 2020.<\/p>\n The line for Tuesday\u2019s full board vote snaked around the block at Broadway and W. 95th Street. Opponents of the project came super-charged, repeatedly shouting and delaying the board\u2019s belabored effort to facilitate public testimony from all sides of the issue.<\/p>\n DOT\u2019s redesign will convert W. 72nd Street from four lanes of moving car traffic to two, repurposing the two lanes for turning bays and a two-way protected bike lane. DOT plans to add a two-way protected bike connect on Riverside Boulevard between W. 68th Street and W. 72nd Street to directly connect cyclists to the greenway and Riverside Park.<\/p>\n The plan has something in it for everyone: Bus riders will get eight-foot-wide raised boarding islands as well as crosswalks and signs alerting cyclists to their presence. <\/p>\n Protected bike lanes have shown to reduce deaths and serious injuries across the city \u2014 including for seniors, DOT officials noted<\/a>, amid concerns from the neighborhood\u2019s older redesigns. Such bike lanes have seen a 39 percent drop in seniors killed or severely injured in traffic crashes, and a 22 percent drop in seniors injured in traffic crashes, DOT said.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s meeting filled up around 15 minutes before it even started, leaving some would-be attendees stuck outside.<\/p>\n As is typical in some Manhattan precincts, e-bikes often dominated the conversation. Supporters of the project spoke about wanting a safe place for their children to bike, while calling on the board and city to address the proliferation of e-bikes and scooters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can expect our DOT and our community board to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time,\u201d said Austin Celestin, a new member of the board (and occasional Streetsblog contributor). \u201cThis plan is not a referendum against regulating e-bikes, those two can coexist.\u201d<\/p>\n Momentum was not with project opponents, however, some of whom suggested no one would use the bike lane even as dozens of their neighbors spoke out in favor of its installation. <\/p>\n The W. 72nd Street Block Association, which had opposed the idea in April, actually provided a statement in favor of the project this time around.<\/p>\n \u201cWe support this investment in our community and ask that CB7 and DOT incorporate feedback from recent meetings and the upcoming walkthroughs into the final street design,\u201d the group said in a statement that was read into the record during the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manhattan CB7 has come a long way from the days when its obstinate leaders spent months and years<\/a> delaying or slow-walking DOT safety projects.<\/p>\n One project, DOT\u2019s protected bike lane redesign of Columbus Avenue, turns 15 this year after boosting both businesses<\/a> and safety<\/a> on the corridor.<\/p>\n Bike lane opponents\u2019 concerns always turn out to be \u201cunfounded,\u201d said longtime CB7 member and current CB7 transportation co-chair Ken Coughlin.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been through all the bike lane battles, every single one, and it\u2019s always been like this,\u201d he said on Tuesday. \u201cPeople said businesses will suffer, safety will be compromised, especially for pedestrians, and there will be more congestion \u2014 and in every case, it\u2019s proven to be unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n The city could install the redesign as early as this summer, according to DOT, which plans to put forward a similar redesign for E. 72nd Street on the Upper East Side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan Community Board 7 on Tuesday backed Mayor Mamdani\u2019s plan to put a two-way protected bike lane on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-253256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/overview.png\")
A new era for W. 72nd Street (and Riverside Boulevard, too). Map: DOT<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CB7-vote-72.jpeg\")
Members of the public line up to speak about the 72nd Street bike lane proposal. Photo: Sophia Lebowitz<\/p>\n