New Addition of Bike Lanes in Queens
Daniel Ignacio
Research Proposal
Project LaneZ
Summary
Our first initiative is to add more bike lanes in New York necessary to prevent different external problems in most cities. However, we believed that installing bike lanes all over New York will be a very tough and expensive task. From this, we decided to choose the location Queens, New York because the addition of bike lanes in a place like Queens has several positive effects. Bike lanes contribute to keeping the air clean since they reduce the number of cars that are on the road. This also leads to less congestion on roads. Aside from helping control traffic, bike lanes also improve safety on the roads. For example, protected bike lanes that create a barrier between bikers and cars help prevent collisions. This not only improves the safety of the bikers but also the safety of drivers. They can also improve the safety of pedestrians. Another positive effect of the addition of bike lanes is the fact that biking encourages people to exercise more. If bike lanes are introduced, more people may feel urged to ride their bikes because of the safety the lanes add to the experience. The estimated price for implementing these lanes would be about $39,000 per mile.
Introduction
In place like New York City, traffic, car accidents, hit and runs, and pollution are huge problems that occurs every day and second. Congestion causes problems for people all over the city regardless of if they are drivers, bikers, or pedestrians. Traffic makes it difficult to get from place to place and, quite frankly, it is harmful to the environment. The emissions from vehicles contribute to pollution and gas in the air. In places without bike lanes, cars and bikers are expected to move harmoniously yet they cause each other all sorts of problems. This may discourage people from biking in their areas because they might find it unsafe. Because of this, they can provide safety benefits to road users though separate operational space for safe motorist overtaking of bicyclists, particularly in narrow, congested areas. Also, bike lanes provides people safer routes around the city without risk of getting hit by a car, injury, and car accidents. Bike lanes keep cyclists off sidewalks. Riding on the sidewalk drops when bike lanes are available. Riding on the sidewalk is dangerous to pedestrians, and actually dangerous even to cyclists because they’re vulnerable to getting hit by turning cars when coming off the sidewalk to cross the street. From this, we can ensure a lot safer precautions and opportunities for people when commuting to their destination in New York.
Context
Bike lanes solve a number of these problems since they create a barrier between bikes and drivers. In fact, ” One study found that on streets with protected bike lanes, bike riders suffered almost 90 percent fewer injuries. More than 70 percent of Americans have noted interest in riding a bike more frequently but believe the activity is dangerous” (Meinhart, 2019). If more people decide to start cycling, this will decrease traffic which in the long run decreases carbon monoxide emissions. More biking means more exercise for more people which is an important factor in this situation. Using engineering to make roads safer, cleaner, and more efficient is essential since New York is such a fast paced and busy place. We plan to add bike lanes to an area of Queens to help with this initiative. As mentioned above, the cost of this is estimated to be about $39,000 per mile (refer to figure 2) which can be raised by supporters of the cause as well as by our company, Project Lanez.
Proposed Program: Our plan is to implement bike lanes in a similar structure to the diagram in figure 1 below.
Fig 1: Diagram of the placement of bike lanes in an average city. (Cycling Plans, 2019).
Innovation Process
Fig. 2: Estimated cost for the project in an area in Queens (Guy Brewer Blvd.) and what each material is used for. (Andy, my groupmate, 2019) The process of building the lanes may include reconstruction of the roads. There are various steps that go into the creation of bike lanes that have to do with safety, money, the state of the area chosen for the lanes, the weather, and more. As a result, the installation of bike lanes could take about a year.
Reference Page
Bicycle Lanes: A No-Brainer? (2019, May 06). Retrieved from https://bicycleuniverse.com/bicycle-lanes-no-brainer/
Cycling Plans & Projects. (2019, April 26). Retrieved from https://www.saskatoon.ca/moving-around/cycling/cycling-plans-projects
Meinhart. (2019, April 23). Advantages of Bike Lanes in Kentucky. Retrieved from https://www.bluegrassjustice.com/advantages-bike-lanes/
