Shared Streets Across Harlem

Whether or not you are in favor of more transportation modes on New York's streets, you cannot deny that safety for cyclists has changed for the better. In fact, the surge in pedal-commuting brings normalcy to sharing the road in much of the city. Take for example, the seeming ubiquity of blue bicycles cruising below 59th Street in Manhattan. The first phase of CitiBike's rollout through the city's core is certainly a vast new travel option for those that can afford the yearly membership and brings a new level of convenience and redundancy at a the cost of some on-street parking, some park space, and roll upon roll of flabby calories.

The benefit that I am most excited about however, is the sight of normal people in normal clothes commuting to boring, normal jobs. These are not spandex-clad blurs that cut you off in Central Park, these are people like you and me, down in the shit and trying to make a living. For many of these commuters, a $95/year membership to CitiBike could largely replace having to pay $1,344 for a year of unlimited use of New York City Transit busses and subways. Furthermore, bike routes could be a more direct and time-saving than hub and spoke train lines and crosstown busses. The benefits of biking to work are numerous and expanding as more an more employers are offing memberships as a work benefit. The indirect benefit for commuters that reside or work outside of the initial rollout is acceptance and safety in numbers. In Harlem, where cycling is viewed suspiciously, change has come slowly to the various neighborhoods uptown.

Below the jump I will share some thoughts about the state of commuting by bicycle in the various parts of Harlem.

First of all, where is Harlem? What is Harlem? To lump together all of the various neighborhoods and enclaves to simplify the analysis would be convenient, but unfair and disingenuous to the reader. Harlem's character developed over many decades of construction, migration, immigration, emigration, destruction, immigration, migration and gentrification. I myself migrated to East Harlem from Virginia a couple of years back. I came uptown after spending a couple of years in Latin America as a Peace Corps volunteer, eager to continue using spanish in a Latin American community. Spanish Harlem appealed to me as the current home of thriving Puerto Rican and Mexican enclaves and an Italian enclave that clings to existence with a handful of holdouts and former residents who return every year to take part in an amazing religious and cultural festival.

Staying within this blog's theme of cycling within the city, I chose to document my commute to work and school, all of which takes place in Harlem, or across Harlem to be specific. After an initial flurry of bike infrastructure installations around the Five Boroughs, the Department of Transportation (DOT) changed their modus operandi from a top-down decision-making process to a bottom-up one by getting approval for projects from the city's many community boards.

A community board is a body of people that are appointed by elected officials to represent their district. They serve two year terms and serve on several committees that deal with topics like transportation or land use or education. When the community board passes a resolution that is for or against a particular project the City may use the resolution to inform how they proceed. The main bulk of what is considered Harlem is divided into three community boards: West Harlem is CB 9, Central Harlem is CB 10 and East Harlem is CB 11.

My commute from work takes me from East Harlem to Central Harlem. This is notable because in the past couple of years, the elected leadership and community board of East Harlem was far more open to the idea of improved biking facilities than that of Central Harlem. Most recently, protected bike lanes were installed on 2nd and 1st avenues within the district. East Harlem already had a relatively high number of people that rely on cycling and these first class facilities give them greater protection from automobile collisions.

The community board in Central Harlem seems to be allergic to cycling facilities. Many cite the desire to preserve the grand boulevards from change, but others point towards cycling being viewed as an indicator species for gentrification. Regardless, there are a wealth of missed opportunities to connect major bike routes and make "complete streets" that serve and protect all users. With that, I will share part of my commute from my residence in East Harlem to work in Central Harlem.

I tried to take photos that characterized the streets upon which I traveled. I want to give you, the reader a sense of the street's width, surrounding land use, and condition. East 111th and West 111th streets are mostly residential with one travel land and two parking lanes. The stretch is very quiet in the morning and the pavement has been holding up without alot of complaints on my part. The parking lanes create a bit of anxiety for me as I usually get passed by drivers trying to make a green light or inexplicably, get to a red light as fast possible. All the while I am watching my right for drivers exiting their vehicles and throwing open their doors into my path. Getting "doored" is a frequent topic among bike commuters in New York and while it isn't usually fatal, avoiding a door can put a cyclist right back into faster traffic, leading to potential harm.

111th Street just west of 5th Ave, technically putting us in Central Harlem but you get the idea.

 Lenox Avenue is a major waypoint for me as it begins my diagonal run up Saint Nicholas Boulevard towards Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard. The intersection is calm and most drivers proceed straight or turn right onto Lenox Ave. The street really needs some smoothing before the intersection, although it hasn't yet hit the awful "pothole" stage as of yet.

Intersection of W. 111th Street, Lenox Ave and St. Nicholas Ave

St. Nick is a lovely couple of blocks for me. The roadway is very wide with two parking lanes and four travel lanes, which is about two too many for the amount of traffic that I observe in the morning. I pretty much have this road to myself until I get to Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.

Good Old St. Nick Boulevard. The biggest "bike lane" ever.

When DOT overhauled Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (ACP), they improved the triangles where St. Nick cuts across. The result is a smooth northbound transition, right onto an ACP bike lane. Perhaps in the future it could become a beautiful plaza, but that's neither here nor there.

Northbound "triangle" on ACP

ACP below W. 117th Street is what the rest of the avenue should've resembled if safety was Community Board 10's greatest concern. This isn't a protected class 1 bike lane, no. It is however, a clear indication that bike commuters belong on this stretch of road. To be honest, liveries and delivery vehicles park here still, but the striping does make a difference and cars traveling alongside you tend to give you space when they see an obstruction ahead.

Northbound ACP just south of W. 116th Street

Above W. 117th the road marking change ever so slightly. The bike lane marking disappear, but the buffer remains. This is DOT's way of giving bicycle commuters some protection without boulevard preservationists accusing them of shenanigans. My anecdotal observations about how drivers perceive the buffer is that they stay out of my way for the most part. It appears that people are more likely to double park in the expanded parking lane buffer than the bike lane, which is nice, but then automobile commuters are not as forgiving when I have to enter the roadway.

ACP and W. 118th Street. This is how ACP looks and feels all the way into the 150s

Northbound looking south at W. 118th and ACP

ACP leads me all the way to my place of work. That is my commute. It is fairly straightforward. There are a variety of street types and bike facilities along the way. The second leg of my commute is from my work on ACP to W. 137th Street and Convent Avenue, City College. That leg is for another day when it isn't too dark to take pictures after work when I am biking uphill. 

Harlem's bike facilities are improving every year for sure. More importantly, the people with whom I share the road are more experienced in sharing this finite resource and everyone benefits. I have a safer journey to work, school and home, and the drivers have to deal with one less car on the road. 

The author of this entry realizes that the word "Harlem" could be found 27 times while reading. The author apologizes for the repetitiveness, but it's a great part of town and you, the reader should get to know it a little better if you don't know it already, in which case congratulations.