Statement: With L Train Service Disruptions Coming, More New Yorkers Will Be Forced to Ride on Brooklyn's Deadly Broadway

TransAlt calls on Mayor de Blasio to complete a connected bike lane network, prioritize areas impacted by reduced L Train service

A 25-year-old woman was killed on Thursday by a hit-and-run truck driver on Broadway in Brooklyn, just blocks from the Williamsburg Bridge. Five people have been killed while biking in New York City in 2019, four of them in Brooklyn. Statement of Transportation Alternatives Interim Director Marco Conner:

"Starting next month, when L Train service to Manhattan is reduced or non-existent on nights and weekends, more Brooklynites than ever are going to opt to bike over the Williamsburg Bridge to get to Manhattan. That means more people will be biking on Broadway, which links Eastern Brooklyn and Bushwick with the bridge. But Broadway, which lacks protected bike lanes, is far from ideal for traveling on two wheels. When a driver makes one bad move on a street like Broadway, where there's no room for error, people die. This is the sad reality of biking in New York City in 2019. 

But it doesn't have to be this way. We're calling on Mayor de Blasio to direct his Department of Transportation to guarantee a safe route for all New Yorkers who bike by building out a true, connected network of protected bike lanes with an accelerated timeline for doing so, with a priority on the areas which will be most heavily impacted by the forthcoming L Train service disruptions."