The ever-expanding Queens bicycle network is coming to Grand Avenue in Maspeth.
The city Department of Transportation (DOT) is getting ready to install bicycle route markings along Grand Avenue between 69th and 74th streets.
These new bike lanes will help reduce speeding along the roadway, organize traffic and add bicycle connections to the current bike lane network.
Right now, Grand Avenue has 25-foot travel and parking lanes on both the east and westbound sides. DOT will break that up into a 9-foot parking lane, 5-foot bike lane, and an 11-foot travel lane on both sides. This will give cyclists a dedicated lane, providing them protection.
“More people are riding bicycles and the city is making it a priority to safeguard those people as much as possible,” said Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5 (CB 5). “In [DOT’s] opinion, and the community board was agreeable to this, this is just another way of hopefully safeguarding the bicyclists. At the same time, it is very important that bicyclists obey traffic regulations and respect pedestrians and motorists.”
Giordano confirmed that high-visibility crosswalks will also be installed as part of this project, which is scheduled to begin in late October, according to DOT.
This project was presented to the CB 5 Transportation and Public Transit committees in February as part of a larger plan which includes adding a concrete curb bump-out at the intersection of Mazeau Street, 57th and Grand avenues, and to convert Mazeau Street to a one-way southbound.
DOT is also planning to install a curb extension at the intersection of 69th Place, 69th Lane and 54th Avenue in order to create a direct crosswalk across the intersection, while banning U-Turns there.
However, those plans are not included in the work coming at the end of the month, and aren’t likely to come until the spring, Giordano said.
