Area in Forest Hills and Flushing

The area I covered is between Flushing and Forest Hills in Queens. The observation is done to the existing bike lines shown in the following map. The segment on 63^rd RD is between Queens Blvd and Grand Central Pkwy. A short segment on Grand Central Pkwy close to Main St was covered too.  The others are the existing bike lanes on Main St, 77^th RD, 141^st St, 77^th Ave, Park Dr E, Jewel Ave, Harry Van Arsdde Jr Ave, 164^th St, and 73^rd Ave. All these bike lanes are shown in the map at this address:

http://www.nycbikemaps.com/maps/queens-bike-map/

Figure 1 Bike lanes had been observed (red lines)

SAFETY
2) Helmets:  

More than 50% of the bike riders did not use helmet.  

 

Figure 2. Biker Riders Without Helmet

3) Road maintenance:

For all the bike lanes, most of the pavement is maintained very well. But at some spots the pavement is broken and lines for bike lanes are worn at some sections. For example the left part of Harry Van Arsdde Jr Ave has very unclear bike lanes because the lines are worn to disappear. It is marked in Figure 1 as red line in blue box. And from the following pictures, we can see the broken pavement and no line on road for the bike lane.

Figure 3. Broken Pavement on 77th Ave and No Bike Lane Line on Jewel Ave

4) Enforcement (double parking, "dooring", not utilizing bike lanes):  

On some conditions, a car occupied bike lane forcing the bike out of bike lane.

Figure 4. Car Occupying the Bike Lane Forced Bike Rider Moving to Outside of Bike Lane

5) Distracted driving:

Distracted driving is not frequent in the area I observed.

LICENSING
1) Insurance (Negligence):

I did not interview bike riders about insurance.

2) Training (How to ride, rules of road):

There are signs showing the rule of road including bike lanes, for example shared lane and exclusive bike lane. Some intersections have channelization for bike path.

Figure 5. Sign and Mark for Shared Lane and Bike Lane

The area I covered has lanes as part of the NYC GREENWAY. The Brooklyn-Queens Greenway (BQG) is a 40-mile, continuous pedestrian and cyclist route from Coney Island in Brooklyn to Fort Totten, on the Long Island Sound, in Queens. 

Figure 6. A Sign of NYC GREENWAY from Brooklyn to Queens

 

PLACEMENT / INFRASTRUCTURE
1) Planning and placement of lanes:

The lanes included in my observation are shown in Figure 1. And there are some other bike lanes in this area shown in the figure as green and purple lanes.

2) Signage:

The signage is very clear for all bike lanes as mentions in training. By signage, bike riders can have a clear sense of the type of bike lanes and make a right choice of their riding behavior.

3) Coverage (everywhere they're supposed to be):

From Figure 1, we can see that the density of bike lane in this area is not high. In Forest Hills, west and north areas of Queens College, there are no bike lanes at all. Since there are lots of residential buildings in these areas, providing bike lanes can give residents in these regions good resources of doing exercises, interacting with neighbors, or doing short distance shopping.

4) Forecasting:

The bike volume in this area is very low now. From the observation, the bike volume will not be soaring in a short time. There are several reasons for this forecasting. One of them is that, for most people in this area, low density of bike lane is not efficient to encourage them to use bike as a traffic mode or a choice of doing exercise.

5) Continuity of bike lanes:

For most of the bike lanes in this area, they have good continuity.  There are only two short bike lanes on 62nd Dr. They are shown in Figure 1.

6) Consistency with other traffic rules and street design:
Depending on different road conditions, the street designs chose different patterns of bike lane. For example shared lane is used on narrow road, exclusive bike lane is designed for wide streets, and NYC greenway has signs all the way along its bike paths.

 

Figure 7. Example of Shared Bike Lane and Bike Lane

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION AND OTHER IMPACTS
1) Traffic calming / motor vehicle driver behavior:

Some markings on road are used to narrow the driving lane. The narrowed lanes can reduce traffic volume. When the non-drive area combined to bike lane, the vehicle drivers need to pay attention to speed. So this mark is a traffic calming measure.

Figure 8. Example of Bike Lane Combining to Mark

2) Reduction in vehicle traffic (usage):

There are more shared bike lanes than exclusive bike lanes in this area. On road where has shared bike lanes, vehicles can use the lane when there was no bike. So shared bike lane has the least impact on vehicle traffic. At the same time, exclusive bike lanes can reduce vehicle volume by narrowing the driving lane.
3) Non use:

All the bike lanes are used by riders.