What’s Up with Prince Street?
November 19, 2012
You may have noticed the above change to the Prince Street bike lane between Mulberry and Lafayette during your crosstown commute recently and wondered what’s happening. I contacted a source at DOT and the good news is that there is no long-term change in store for this block; the shift to the left is due to the impending construction of a commercial building “which will temporarily close the curbside bike lane.”
DOT will also build a pedestrian walkway, presumably where the green bike lane is right now, so it looks like bikes and cars will share space on just this one block, which is one of the quieter stretches of my morning ride. Expect it to return to normal in about ten months.
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- Wondering what’s up with Prince Street? Good news: it’s temporary. http://t.co/iKKHIcqZ #bikenyc | NYMetroWorkout.com - Exercising for fun and fitness in the New York City area by Anthony Olszewski
- RT @BrooklynSpoke: Wondering what’s up with Prince Street? Good news: it’s temporary. http://t.co/iKKHIcqZ #bikenyc | NYMetroWorkout.com - Exercising for fun and fitness in the New York City area by Anthony Olszewski
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Brooklyn Spoke 
Wow — thanks for finding out. That’s a pretty crucial WB route.
Don’t forget there’s also 3d St/Great Jones, a little further uptown, which runs westbound all the way from Avenue C to 6th Ave and is wider, with less pedestrian traffic, and also avoids the dogleg at the Bowery required to get from Rivington to Prince.
I prefer the Allen St lane northbound from the bridges to 3d St, then I turn right on Macdougal, left on Minetta, go against traffic one block on Carmine, and then stay on Carmine until making a right on Bedford, then left on Christopher to get to the West Side greenway. Or, turn right on Hudson to get on the 8th Ave protected lane.
Going against traffic for even one block is a terrible idea.
There’s always the option of walking the bike along Father Demo Square; it’s no more than 100 meters.
I used to be as doctrinaire as you about the wrong-way riding, but after more than 10 years of city riding I’ve decided that it is now time to stop overly inconveniencing myself in order to appease people who hate bicycles and will never stop hating bicycles. Also the recent proliferation of wrong-way bike lanes makes me hopeful that DOT will soon validate my route choices with similar infrastructure.
Another positive side to this temporary change: in the past, it seemed that a “Caution: Construction in Bike Lane” sign was sufficient to close a bike lane for construction purposes – and the bike lane would usually run right into a barrier. In this case, at least, a temporary reacommodation has been made…