{"id":296433,"date":"2026-07-15T11:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/296433\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:12:14","slug":"disabled-residents-sue-nyc-to-stop-upper-west-side-bike-lane-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/296433\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled residents sue NYC to stop Upper West Side bike lane plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disabled Upper West Side residents are suing to block the city\u2019s controversial redesign of West 72nd Street<\/a>, escalating the battle over a planned protected bike lane there that locals have fiercely opposed.<\/p>\n

The complaint, filed Friday in Manhattan federal court, names seven plaintiffs \u2014 including a blind woman \u2014 who live on the popular main thoroughfare and use wheelchairs, scooters, canes and walkers to get around.<\/p>\n

The group says the new street design \u2014 which will cut the number of vehicular traffic lanes from four to two while shifting the current buffer of parking away from the curb to install a two-way bike lane \u2014 will make them \u201cvirtual shut-ins.\u201d<\/p>\n

A blind person is one of the people suing to stop the city Transportation Department from putting in bike lanes on West 72nd Street. prostooleh \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because it will force disabled residents to cross fast-moving bike and e-scooter traffic in the bike lane to now reach taxis, Access-A-Ride, buses and emergency vehicles \u2014 a situation they won\u2019t want to attempt for fear of their safety, the suit says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole concept doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d plaintiff lawyer Hartley Bernstein told The Post. \u201cIt\u2019s a busy street with 20,000 residents and a large proportion of seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could place bike lanes on 73rd street going one direction and one on 71st street going another direction. It would be slightly less convenient for cyclists, but it would not pose such a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit argues that the city Transportation Department\u2019s plan violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and state and Big Apple human-rights laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of these dangers, the West 72nd\u00a0Street Plan will have a chilling effect on the Plaintiffs making them virtual shut-ins,\u201d court papers say.<\/p>\n

The two-way bike lane would run adjacent to the street\u2019s north curb between Central Park West and Riverside Drive.<\/p>\n

DOT plans to put in a two-way bike lane. NYC DOT<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop construction, restore the prior street layout and at least $225,000 in damages per plaintiff, plus attorneys\u2019 fees.<\/p>\n

Upper West Side<\/a>\u00a0residents and business owners have been fighting DOT\u2019s plan at community meetings and held a rally<\/a> in May to voice their concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit joins a broader legal push against Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s e\u2011bike agenda.<\/p>\n

Another lawsuit brought by people injured by reckless e\u2011bikers challenged Mamdani\u2019s decision to scale back criminal enforcement of e\u2011bike violations, arguing it has made streets more dangerous for seniors and disabled New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

DOT also created a self-inflicted headache for itself in Queens over an alleged dangerous bike-lane plan that locals hate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bernstein previously filed a lawsuit over that bike lane on 31st Street in Astoria that locals \u2014 including firefighters<\/a> from the local firehouse \u2014 said posed fire rescue risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bernstein said a judge sided with his clients about the dangers the DOT\u2019s 31st Street bike lane posed.<\/p>\n

DOT filed a notice to appeal the judge\u2019s decision, then created a new bike lane plan for the neighborhood that Bernstein said does roughly the same thing as the old plan the judge ruled against. <\/p>\n

Bernstein said he plans to challenge DOT\u2019s new Astoria bike lane plan, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DOT eventually plans to extend the two-way bike lane through Central Park and to the East side of Manhattan. NYC DOT<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mostly the same plan. And it really didn\u2019t address 90% of what this judge said was wrong when she nullified the first plan,\u201d Bernstein said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DOT\u2019s zeal may reflect the clout of Transportation Alternatives, a bike advocacy group partly funded by delivery companies<\/a> that profit when the city builds out more taxpayer\u2011funded lanes for their e\u2011bikes and e\u2011trikes.<\/p>\n

Transportation Alternatives has a direct foothold in the Mamdani administration. <\/p>\n

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The group\u2019s executive director, Ben Furnas, served on the mayor\u2019s transportation and infrastructure transition team, and the group\u2019s street policy agenda has effectively been adopted as a blueprint<\/a> for City Hall\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n

City Hall did not respond to a Post request for comment.<\/p>\n

But Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Ben Furnas said in a statement, \u201cPrioritizing safety in no way bars or impairs anyone from using 72nd Street \u2014 quite the opposite, it turns a dangerous street into a better one for seniors, children, and disabled New Yorkers. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the redesign is finished, cars, trucks, and buses will all still be able to access, park on, and drive through 72nd Street. With these infrastructure improvements, it\u2019ll be even easier for ambulances to drive through or pick up on 72nd, just like it\u2019s become easier after similar projects finished across the city. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no world where a street with better and shorter crossings is worse for anyone except reckless, speeding drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disabled Upper West Side residents are suing to block the city\u2019s controversial redesign of West 72nd Street, escalating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13930,10483,5459,57,9,56,63,65,64,87,142,608,62,58,82],"class_list":["post-296433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bike-lanes","tag-bikes","tag-department-of-transportation","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-politics","tag-transit","tag-transportation","tag-upper-west-side","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296433","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=296433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}