For some reason, the DOT decided to mark Franklin Avenue “Shared Bicycle/Car Roadway” and painted these signs on the roadway. I don’t get it. It may make cars a little more aware of bicyclists, but it still isn’t a street I would recommend taking. Perhaps the DOT thought Franklin was preferable over Manhattan Ave. because there is less traffic. But this very lack of traffic means that cars go faster and don’t pay as much attention as on Manhattan Ave. The double striped median means that technically cars can’t pass bicycles by crossing over into the oncoming lane, but my personal experience suggests cars don’t pay too much attention to that. If the marking makes bicyclists feel more entitled, they might be doing more harm than good.
So what gives? It appears that the DOT wanted to connect the Pulaski Bridge to Greenpoint/Williamsburg in some semblance of a safe way. If this is the case, I don’t think it was a good solution. Taking Franklin works if you live along the western fringe of Greenpoint, and perhaps Williamsburg as far east as Union. But for many others, the temptation remains to bike down McGuiness and thereby save a few (or many) blocks.
I applaud the DOT for making the North Brooklyn bike route this much more seamless, but I am afraid that until DOT does the right thing and adds a bike lane to McGuiness, bicyclists will still be unsafe – whether they follow the bike route or not.
