(DFNYC Member and Transportation Alternatives' Queens Committee Chair Mike Heffron brought this issue up at the July Astoria linkup and we felt it might be worth sharing with other DFNYC folks. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent official positions of or endorsements by Democracy for New York City)

In early 2007, the city Department of Transportation proposed addition of painted bike lanes as part of a package of improvements for Vernon Boulevard, a major street running parallel to the waterfront in western Queens. Although the land use committee voted unanimously in favor of the lanes, Community Board 2 tabled discussion of the project and never took it up in a general meeting. Community Board 1 also never discussed the project but did send a letter to local officials opposing the bike lanes. However, a number of other local groups, under the leadership of Transportation Alternatives, signed on to a letter in support of the bike lanes, and in June 2008, the lanes were created.

While this should be seen as a victory for bicyclists and for "green" transportation in New York City, the future of bike lanes is not entirely clear. The primary point of opposition seems to be the elimination of parking spaces (200 in the case of Vernon Boulevard) on already congested streets while (as in the poorly-conceived "bike lane to nowhere" on 36th Street) creating lanes that seem to provide no benefit to the community in general. But successful bike lanes (as with the Fort Greene bike lanes) can overcome opposition in time and demonstrate their value to the community. The trick is building the community support necessary to get them built in the first place.

Read more about this story and related topics on StreetsBlog.org