Crown Heights residents clash over bike lane project

August 8, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CROWN HEIGHTS — RESIDENTS OF CROWN Heights and East Flatbush clashed at a Monday online Community Board 9 meeting over a controversial new plan that would add protected bike lanes and other traffic safety measures to a stretch of Brooklyn and Kingston avenues between Empire Blvd. and Winthrop St., reports The City, with supporters arguing that the proposed changes would help reduce speeding around the area’s many schools, as well as protecting bikers. While opponents said that the proposals would increase congestion by narrowing streets and would result in lost parking spaces. Community Board 9’s neighborhoods currently have no protected bike lanes and only one shared-street major bike lane on Bedford Avenue. Officials characterized Crown Heights and Flatbush as dangerous traffic areas, with a total of 158 injuries reported from accidents in the last 5 years, 53 of them involving pedestrians or cyclists.

The community board plans to hold another forum on the bike lane proposals in September, but has not set a date.

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