Bayside Bike Lane Proposal Voted Down By Local Community Board

BAYSIDE, NY — A plan to install a network of bike lanes across Bayside was voted down by the local Community Board Tuesday night.

The Department of Transportation proposal was contested by local residents who said they didn't want outsiders deciding where bike lanes would best fit, said Bayside Hills Civic Association president Michael Feiner.

“The people who like bikes would like to have them all over the place,” Feiner told Patch. “The senior citizens and the people who oppose the bike lanes want the proponents to look and see that the proposals for the bike lanes are illogical.”

The Transportation department was not available at the time of publication to respond to the complaint about its proposed selection for bike lanes.

Queens Community Board 11 serves in an advisory capacity, which means the plans could still move forward, but Transportation officials can also take their suggestions back to the drawing board.

The Transportation department proposal calls for a bicycle lane network on the following streets, according to a presentation delivered to Community Board 11 on June 15.

• Corporal Kennedy Street
• 26th and 28th avenues
• 46th Avenue
• 53rd and 56th avenues
• Cloverdale Boulevard and 69th
• Utopia Parkway
• Springfield Boulevard

Feiner's concerns focus on 53rd, 56th and 58th avenues, which he says are too narrow and get too much traffic to accommodate bike lanes.

The civic group leader also raised concerns about lost parking spaces near schools where parents need to drop off their kids.

Feiner would prefer to see bike lanes in or on the blocks near Alley Pond Park, Cunningham Park, Joe Michael’s Mile near the Bay Terrace waterway and the Long Island Motor Parkway, he said.