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Is This the Birth of the Kingston Ave. Bike Lane?

City workers recently painted a white line along Kingston Avenue, Crown Heights’ main artery and commercial hub, restricting traffic to one lane and leaving a few feet of empty space between traffic and the vehicles parked to their left.

The new markings leave many wondering whether this is the birth of the long-speculated and controversial Kingston Avenue bike lane, which was proposed by the city back in 2009.

The announcement at the time elicited fierce criticism from Crown Heights residents and business owners, many of whom signed a petition to the city opposing the construction of a bike lane. The plan was eventually shelved.

Col. Jacob Goldstein, Chairman of Community Board 9, told CrownHeights.info that the community board never approved any bike lane, and was not approached recently with any proposal for one. In light of this, it appears that the new markings are merely meant to restrict traffic to one lane, at least for now.

Whether this newly-created space will morph into a bike lane in the future remains to be seen.

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35 Comments

  • Patron

    I sure hope this was just a mistake, Kingston Ave needs 2 lanes of traffic, this will only make things worse for an already overly congested street. Please stop this insanity now!!

  • time to leave nyc

    from empire to bedford to nostrand to kingston you cannot get to work without the frustration of cars in front of you

  • war on cars

    NYC is at “war” with cars… one of the busiest cities in the world and they are chopping off 3 lane to 2 lane (in some cases 1 lane) streets and 2 lane to 1 lane…!

  • TorahYid

    This will encourage yiddim to ride bicycles which is healthy and what Hashem wants from us.

    • Yossel

      Fine. Let our leaders, Rabbonim encourage the riding of bicycles. Let the CITY stop blocking the already existing bike lanes with their police vehicles, DSNY enforcement cars, DOT cars, NYPD tow trucks, Parking Violations cars, and other nuisances that force the cyclists to move into the automobile lanes. The city is the worst violator of blocking bike lanes. Riding a bike in Brooklyn means taking your life into your hands despite the bike lanes. Let the city make the buses and subways safe by putting more cops on trains and buses. Until then, they have NO right to restrict automobile traffic.

  • ????? !!!!!!!

    Dear # 6:
    I am a Bubby of a certain age BH who drives on Kingston daily. Although I believe in exercising, I kinda doubt that riding a bike is “what HaShem wants from me .” Many people will be very inconvenienced by this bike lane.

    • Old Fashioned

      Hey Bubby,

      Consider getting an E-bikes or electric scooter!

      I did and it makes me feel young again!

  • Gee zus

    Is this the birth of a new deer crossing? Is this the start of a new Prime Meridian? Is this the beginning of a new line-based life form? Is this the first ever exception to Betteridge’s Law of Headlines?

    No, it’s a new line painted in the street.

    As to why this might actually be a good thing for the car-using Jewish community of Crown Heights?

    One lane streets are actually faster. If all of the inconsiderate double-parkers &c pull off to the newly expanded parking area, and there’s no car behind them, traffic moves better. Any traffic engineer will tell you that traffic is not generally a problem with straight throughput; it’s a problem with merging, and the like. Enforce one lane, traffic works as intended.

    (heh. War on cars. Adorable.)

    • Yossel

      Yes, a war on cars. I don’t think you can stop double parkers, or any other inconsiderate behavior on the part of people in CH. They do it for the most part with impunity, they are lazy! Sometimes I see a minvan or car double parked, blocking traffic, with an empty parking space right there! And it’s better to stop by a fire hydrant than double park.

    • One lane streets are actually faster?

      Just compare how long it takes to get onto Eastern Parkway coming from President Street on Kingston Avenue (2 lanes) vs. New York Avenue (1 lane).

      IMHO Kingston Avenue wins hands down. New York Avenue between President (and more so from Union St) to Eastern Parkway is usually a terrible crawl.

  • בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁלֹּא חִסַּר בְּעוֹלָמוֹ כְּלוּם וּבָרָא בוֹ בְּרִיּוֹת טוֹבוֹת וְאִילָנוֹת טוֹבוֹת לֵ

    i mean gam zoo ltoivoh

  • Reply to #6 - TorahYid

    I suppose that means women too??? you want the woman to start biking around crown Heights? maybe with added bike trailers for tiny tots to hitch a ride?

  • May be more helpful than hurtful.

    I think this will prevent people from double-parking along Kingston Avenue and it will, as a result, allow for a nice flow of traffic during rush-hour. But we shall see.

    AND (more importantly)…..biking is great for your mind and body. Join the bike lane.

    CH Biker.

    • What?

      How on earth does this prevent double parking????

      People will double park there anyway, especially if this added width isn’t officially a bike lane.

    • Really????

      Why do you think it will prevent double parking. That is wishful thinking at best and more likely foolish ignorance.

      Just look at what is happening on Bedford Ave. Nostrand Ave. and more, where traffic lanes were taken away and given to bicycles and buses. While NO STANDING rules are in place, that doesn’t change the reality of a delivery truck needing to make its delivery, or someone stopping to drop-off or pick-up someone, or just plain illegal parking. It might just be one vehicle, but the traffic disruption is real and significant. The supposed 2 lanes become just 1, and one lane goes down to….

      It is a travesty to do this without input from merchants and residents. This bullying by the Dept of Transportation must be stopped.

  • Latest yuppie from Crown Heights

    Why is everyone complaining about, this works great in afghanastan, India and many other such places

  • declasse' intellectual

    #6 get real for a change !!! Besides with new York drivers, you put yourself at risk by being on a bike!!!!!!!

  • To No 6

    And very tznius for the girls/women who will start riding bikes in a community which is already so lacking…
    Excercise, yes, but bike riding in Crown Heights for women – NO!!!

  • Great Dane

    Biking can be perfectly tznius for both men and women. Anyone who has ever been to Israel can see frum, totally tznius women cycling.

    As the USA gets fatter and fatter – I am always shocked every time I visit – cycling may be part of a broader solution to get people to take care of the bodies Hashem gave them. Let’s remember that א קליינע לאך אין גוף איז א גרויסע לאך אין נשמה.

  • Rachamim

    To number 15. & what about woman driving cars?????? In a Chasidisher place, (like Williamsburg) the husbands don’t let their wifes drive….so let’s be happy that (woman/girls) can possibly ride bikes down Kingston Avenue…..

  • NIMBY

    A bike lane is fine, just not on THE main thoroughfare of the Orthodox Jewish part of Crown Heights–for tznius reasons.

  • 48 yr in the hood,

    the dept of DOT wants to eliminate car traffic
    in a growing city .
    i drive for a living , all over Brooklyn & queens
    its crazy , it takes for ever to get any were

  • why not

    if the ch/kingston traffic that was comprised of people who live in ch driving to somewhere else in ch gets eliminated by this “nuisance” that would be a good thing. WALK. There’s no point in CH that’s more than a 10 minute walk. WALK.

  • We all come with black paint

    & together repaint it,

    People that live here their whole life should have the say.

  • I tried to drive up Kingston Ave. this morning

    The backup, at 7:40 a.m. (one lane, on June 9), went all the way back to past Crown Street!

    At Crown Street, I finally cut over to New York Avenue, and even though it too was slow, it was much better than the “new” traffic pattern on Kingston Ave.