Open Thread Wednesday 4/21/10

By on April 21, 2010 12:10 am in open thread
Flickr photo by lumierefl

Flickr photo by lumierefl

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • my2cents

    Tourists should stay in the pedestrian side of the lane divider? Jen, you might as well say that cats should come when they’re called. That is not a solution to the problem, unless you were to limit the number of people allowed on the bridge, which the city will never do because it is bad for tourism.

  • my2cents

    Another solution that occurs to me is to use the pre-existing structure over the car roadway (which originally held the trams, I believe) to build a bikes-only strip outside the current “boardwalk”. This would really solve the problem by completely separating the pedestrian and bike traffic. The only issue is the cost of building it. Jen, I agree with you, by the way, about the FDR entry and exit ramps. They were all designed for waaay less traffic than exists today. They should really be two lanes wide instead of one. Big pet peeve :-)

  • bornhere

    Regarding the slightly OT FDR issue: the trick is to get off the FDR at the Bridge exit but to stay right and get off the FDR/BB access completely. Yes, you will encounter the traffic light, but it is not a long light. Then just make a left and the quick right back to the on-ramp for the Bridge: it sets you up in the right-hand lane of the entrance and deposits you in the right-hand lane of the Bridge.

  • AEB

    Of course my2 is right: segregation of pedestrians is the best way, if possible.

    As long as the two groups have side-by-side accommodations, there’s going to be “bleeding” of one into the other, depending on traffic of each. And as long as there’s bleeding, there’s no way to prevent conflict, a sense of violated turf.

  • David on Middagh

    As someone who has walked and biked the bridge countless times — and shouted at clueless tourists to LOOKOUTLOOKOUTLOOKOUT as I bore down on them on my little Dahon — I absolutely love the idea of segregated bike lanes above the roadways.

    The cars, so space- and fuel-inefficient, have puhlenty of square footage of asphalt on the bridges. It isn’t right that the pedestrians and bicyclists should be fighting each other for scraps.

  • ratNYC

    Imho, this is not pedestrians vs. bikers problem but a hordes-of-tourists problem which affects us all. As a local walking across the bridge I find it really annoying that the hordes of tourists walk slow, take up the whole ped lane, stop in the middle of it w/o warning to look into space or take pictures or whatever they do, and are rarely conscious of the bike lane. I also bike over the bridge sometimes and when I do b/c I know the bridge is packed with dumb tourists I ride my bike slow, granted I’m not commuting, but it is the safe and smart thing to do. I see a lot of bikers descend the bridge at maximum speed on bridge-crowded weekends, risking getting hurt or getting someone else hurt and while I don’t advocate banning bikers, c’mon guys, while there isn’t a permanent solution, exercise some common sense and slow it down.

  • WillowtownCop

    I’ve seen plenty of problems caused by yuppies on ridiculously overpriced track bikes who think its a good idea to ride them in the city (decked out in head to toe spandex), toes clipped in. They can’t stop safely- some of these contraptions don’t even have brakes.

  • XYZ

    Just for the record: When I walked over Manhattan Bridge last summer on the pedestrian side there were several bikers running one almost over as they didnt slow down. Dumb bikers.

  • http://www.alternet.org ABC

    Too many of the bridge bicyclists are a danger to themselves & others. They ride with excessive speed, make reckless maneuvers, & do not exercise common sense when approaching pedestrians, including small children. The is a yield-to-pedestrians sign near the first exit on the Brooklyn side, yet they often zoom right through this at 50 mph!

    Either ban the bikes or install speed bumps! In the meantime, put a cop or two up their to give speeding, reckless bickers tickets! (Btw, blaming this dangerous situation on “tourists” is ridiculous.)

  • ratNYC

    @ABC: I did not mean to place the blame on tourists, but just to point out that the overcrowding of the bridge is because it is a big tourist attraction and as such, and as annoying as this situation could be, local pedestrians should be understanding and patient and local bikers should ride slow on the bridge for everyone’s safety. I may be annoyed at times by the tourists, but I see it as an insignificant cost of living in the greatest city in the world.

  • justaneighbor

    WHAT is going on with this Saudi Arabian container trying to get up the East River?? It’s not going to clear the Brooklyn Bridge – has anyone seen this?!?!

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