LPC approves new bike lane for Prospect Park’s perimeter
Rendering courtesy of the Prospect Park Alliance, via LPC
Brooklyn is getting a new bike lane. The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved a plan from the city’s Parks Department to build a protected bike lane on Ocean Avenue around the perimeter of Prospect Park. But two LPC commissioners opposed the design because it calls for removing 57 healthy trees to make way for the new path, the Brooklyn Eagle reported.
The bike lane would be created by joining a section of grass on the sidewalk and a part of the street. The two-way paved lane would measure eight feet wide, with a small curb between the bike lane and the street. An eight-foot-wide grass verge separates bikers from the sidewalk.
All trees on Ocean Avenue will have to be removed in order to construct the bike lane, which includes 57 healthy and 13 unhealthy trees. According to the Eagle, NYC Parks will transplant 21 of those trees somewhere else in the park; 150 new trees will be planted along Ocean Avenue.
The bike lane plan put forth by NYC Parks falls under a more extensive sidewalk restoration project for the park’s Ocean and Parkside Avenue entrances, estimated at $8.2 million. Overseen by the Prospect Park Alliance, the project, estimated to be completed in the fall of 2021, adds new sidewalks, paving, lighting, and street furniture.
Part of this restoration project includes replacing the cobblestones at the Ocean Avenue entrance with beige concrete. This entrance will be the home of the new Shirley Chisholm Monument, expected to take its place by the end of next year.
Currently, the Alliance is restoring the Flatbush Avenue perimeter of the park, which is expected to be completed by this summer. The $2.4 million project includes reconstructing the sidewalk, fencing, adding new street furniture, lighting, and landscaping.
[Via Brooklyn Eagle]
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