In 2005, a tragic bike fatality stirred neighborhood groups and businesses to request much needed traffic calming on Park Slope’s busy corridor, 5th Avenue. More than 100 local businesses signed letters of support for a new 5th Avenue bike lane. The NYC Department of Transportation responded with a combination class II bike lane/ class III shared bike route that extends from Dean to 24th street. Four years later, NYC averages thousands of cyclists daily, hundreds of them utilizing 5th avenue as a safe route for commuting, shopping, and living; but there is room for improvement.

On Sunday, October 11th, a dozen riders from the Transportation Alternatives Brooklyn Committee ventured on a full Fifth Avenue bike ride, exploring the idea of expanding the current bike route to a wider stretch of Brooklyn. The ride started at it’s northern end at Flatbush Avenue and continued to its southern terminus by the Verrazzano bridge. Though a bike lane exists for much of this street’s Park Slope neighborhood, the group of riders discovered the golden opportunity for a bike lane expansion that would connect neighborhoods like Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, parks such as Leif Ericson Park and Fort Hamilton Park, and provide safer streets for Brooklyn’s residents as well as 5th avenue merchants.

This was just the beginning of TA BK committee’s new campaign, but to stay in the loop on all its progress, join the mailing list and check out images from the TA BK Flickr page courtesy of Garrett and Paco.