Cyclists, like John Bezemes, said they like the new 31st\u00a0Street bike lane in Astoria, Queens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this kind of infrastructure [is] really important for the city,” Bezemes said. “And, yeah, it just makes me feel safer in my own neighborhood biking around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others, like George Stamatiades, who has lived on 31st Street for 50 years and uses a walker, feel differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I don’t step out if I don’t look in both directions five times,” Stamatiades said. “All day, I bet you don’t count five bicycles.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is one lane in each direction protected by parking and one lane of traffic under the tracks of the N and W subway line.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s somewhat similar to an earlier plan that a court ruled against in December over concerns about fire response from the FDNY. The city filed a notice of appeal, which automatically put the decision on hold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey then proceeded to develop a new plan for 31st Street, which is even broader than the original plan, covers more of the street,” Hartley Bernstein, the lawyer for the 31st Street Business, Parents and Residents Association, said.<\/p>\n
Now the association filed a new suit over the new plan. The protected bike lane that was installed in May currently runs from Northern Boulevard to Newtown Avenue \u2014 the original length.<\/p>\n
But next year the city’s Department of Transportation will extend it to 20th Avenue. The FDNY signed off on it this time because the new plan creates more space around hydrants and more ability for apparatus to operate and use the bike lane.<\/p>\n
Those suing said emergency vehicles aren\u2019t using the lane.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraffic jams, double-parked cars, some of parked trucks doing deliveries,” Anthony Gulino, the owner of Triboro\u00a0Iron Works, said. “People are fighting with each other on both sides of the lane, trying to crisscross over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the congestion, it’s more difficult [for] me to test drive cars,” Anthony Koulizakis, owner of Z.A. & D. Service Station, said.<\/p>\n
The DOT installed loading zones and more metered parking, but business owners said they\u2019re often blocked, including their driveways, because the curb markings aren\u2019t clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing to Dunkin’ Donuts, they don’t care,” Guiino said. “I had to fight with people like you were my driveway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DOT said it consulted 150 businesses and at a community board meeting in April said the design also protects pedestrians, with concrete islands to shorten crossing distance, and there will be traffic signals for cyclists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not just a bike lane,” city DOT official Joe Patti told the meeting. “It’s a safety treatment.”<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs are asking for a temporary restraining order to block the bike lane.<\/p>\n
A hearing has been set for Sept. 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cyclists, like John Bezemes, said they like the new 31st\u00a0Street bike lane in Astoria, Queens. \u201cI think this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[25,1084,9,24,12,63,122,124,123,298,27,296,142,200],"class_list":["post-314869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-app-top-stories","tag-app-traffic-transit","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-samantha-liebman","tag-top-stories","tag-traffic-and-transit","tag-transit","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314869","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=314869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}