Two city councilmen are pressing Mayor Bloomberg and his bike-lane-loving transportation chief to require that any new bicycle lanes go through the same exhaustive public review as other road changes.
Staten Island Councilman James Oddo, the Republican minority leader, said plans for new bike lanes should undergo the city’s lengthy environmental-assessment process, or the city should allow other, more minor traffic changes to bypass the review.
Oddo and Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-SI) penned a letter last week demanding an explanation from Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, an avid cyclist and bike-lane proponent, of why the lanes don’t require the scrutiny.
“The creation of bike lanes and the removal of vehicle travel lanes represent a major reordering of Department of Transportation priorities that may affect the environment and appear to qualify” for a formal environmental review, the letter reads.
Oddo told The Post, “To add one left-handed turning lane [on Staten Island], it’s taking us eight to 12 years, yet there have been all of these bike lanes installed without any bumps in the road. How is that possible?”
DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow defended the exclusion of bike lanes from the city’s review process.
“Our job is to improve mobility and safety on city streets, and this kind of review is not necessary for any routine street changes we make to improve safety,” he said.
Since Bloomberg took office in 2002, the city has added 373 miles of bike lanes, Solomonow said.