Bike Lanes with Class

Mayor Bill de Blasio is focusing his bike lane dollars on the best, with a record 18 miles of Class 1 Protected Bike Lanes planned for 2016, and recent installations on Jay Street and the Pulaski Bridge in Brooklyn; Bruckner Boulevard, Willow Avenue and 133rd Street in the Bronx; 20th Avenue in Astoria, Queens Boulevard in Woodside and Elmhurst; Rockland, Travis and Nome avenues in Staten Island; Sixth and Amsterdam avenues in Manhattan; and coming soon to Chrystie and Delancey streets. What’s Class 1? A traffic engineer’s distinction: Class 1 bike lanes are top-notch cycling spaces guarded by a barrier, Class 2 lanes are just paint, and sharrows aren’t bike lanes (tell anyone who says different to keep riding). The newest infrastructure on city streets is clearly keeping it classy.