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BROADWAY TO ‘SKINNY’-WAY

The Upper West Side could become paradise for pedestrians but hell for motorists if one local advocacy group has its way.

Transportation Alternatives said in a report released to The Post that Broadway should be reduced from six lanes to four and bicyclists should have their own safe barrier from speedy motorists.

“For years, bike-lane designs in New York City lived in a fantasy world,” said Wiley Norvell, the group’s spokesman. “We viewed all bike lanes as if double parking never existed. And really, what we’ve started to see now are bike lanes for the real world that can be used in an entire section of the city.”

The plan, which includes 12 pages of renderings, also recommends giving bike riders the inside track on Broadway going both uptown and downtown, and blocking off those lanes off with leafy planters and other obstructions to keep car drivers in their place.

Major crosstown streets that sometimes turn into drag races between cars will get only about 15 feet of driving space in the recommendations, Norvell said. The rest of the space would go to extended pedestrian curbs and angle parking. Narrow crosstown streets would gain mid-block sidewalk extensions to hold motorists’ attention and slow traffic, the report said.

Amsterdam Avenue would also get an overhaul, with extended sidewalks and a protected bike lane.

State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D), who represents the Upper West Side, says she’s already on board with Transportation Alternatives’ plans.

“It’s a great way to get the cars off the roads,” Rosenthal said. “The people who live here count more than the cars that drive here.”

The city Department of Transportation said it hasn’t seen the early release of the plans and had no comment.

Many of the plan’s suggestions – dedicated bike lanes, more room for people to walk and restricted movement for cars – are some of the tactics the DOT has used around the city and has included in its plan for “sustainable streets.”

“We’re giving them the most cost-efficient way to do this,” Norvell said. “It’s the low-hanging fruit. We’ve just brought it all together into the same section of the city.”

The DOT has made several recent street redesigns that limit the movement of motorists. Some of them were made after Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan for tolling car drivers entering Midtown and lower Manhattan was killed in the state Assembly last spring. Since then, the city has lain down dozens of miles of bike-only lanes.

“It’s like the congestion-pricing plan without the political activists,” Rosenthal said.

“This was a community plan. It wasn’t someone sitting at a desk and using computer-aided design to solve a problem.”

On the Upper West Side yesterday, most people moving about on two feet or two wheels were in favor of dethroning the automobile as king of the road.

Javier Salazar, 41, who runs a bicycle shop on West 96th Street near Broadway, welcomed the ideas.

“So many people are not only riding for fun, but they’re using their bikes to get to and from work,” he said. “We need more bike lanes.”

The ongoing battle between drivers and walkers trying to avoid red-light delays was also on the mind of Luca Gentile, 37, a Jersey City resident who frequently visits the Upper West Side.

“The less fight we have with traffic, the better,” he said, saying that bike lanes claiming more space would be ideal.

But those making a living behind the wheel said the suggestions could cause unimaginable gridlock.

“It’s going to cause a lot more traffic, and especially rush hour will be crazy,” said cabdriver Abubakar Abdullah, 45. “We already have the same problem on Ninth Avenue below 34th Street because of the bicycle lanes. Motorists have rights, too.”

Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg and Kevin Fasick