A New York choose dominated Wednesday that the Adams administration can resume its plan to take away a protected bike lane from a portion of Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn.
Decide Carolyn Walker-Diallo’s ruling comes simply three weeks after she imposed a brief restraining order — blocking town’s plans to undo the newly minted bike lane — in response to a swimsuit filed by a Williamsburg resident final month.
That resident, Baruch Herzfeld, and his minor son joined biking advocacy group Transportation Options in suing town after Mayor Adams took to X final month to announce his plan to scrap the protected bike lane — which separates bicycle site visitors from the remainder of the road with a line of parked automobiles — and transfer bicycle site visitors to the opposite facet of the parking lane, alongside motorized site visitors.
In pushing for that association, the Adams administration has cited opposition from some Williamsburg neighborhood leaders who say fast paced bikes and e-bikes within the protected lane pose a hazard to individuals crossing mid-block, and kids exiting faculty buses. A video montage launched by the mayor’s workplace reveals a number of kids getting hit by e-bikes as they run towards the sidewalk from between parked automobiles.
One intervenor within the lawsuit, Nathan Schwartz, argued that forcing bicycles to journey alongside automobiles and vehicles would “restor[e] cyclists’ natural instincts for vigilance.”
One other, Samuel Herskovitz, claimed he’d been hit within the hand by a moped touring at “over 45 mph” whereas getting out of a automobile at a dropoff zone on Bedford Ave.
“I beg the court, please for my safety and the safety of my children and all the 2,000children living close to the dangerous new bike lane, please allow the mayor to shift the bike lane’s location on the roadway,” he mentioned in a courtroom submitting.
However these trying to shield the established order see it in a different way.
In his swimsuit, Herzfeld alleged “irreparable harm” would come to neighborhood residents if the lane have been now not protected by parked automobiles, and mentioned town had failed to present the neighborhood correct discover.
Walker-Diallo had initially blocked town from altering the lane, pending a listening to that had been scheduled for subsequent month. However Walker-Diallo dropped her restraining order on Wednesday, permitting town to proceed.
“Here, the only change is a modification, where the bike lane orientation is being moved from the interior lane of the street abutting the sidewalk to abutting the traffic lane,” she wrote. “No lanes are being removed.”
“A bike lane will still exist at that location,” she continued. “Therefore the court holds that [the city was] not required to provide prior notice … .”
The protected lane was first put in in October 2024. Previous to that, bicycle site visitors on Bedford Ave. — a significant north-south thoroughfare by means of central and northern Brooklyn — traveled in a painted lane alongside automobile and truck site visitors.
Testimony filed within the case by town’s Division of Transportation states that for the reason that opening of the protected bike lane, reported accidents alongside the related part of Bedford Ave. have fallen by 47%.
However the company admitted that Hatzalah, the personal ambulance service that always responds to accidents within the Haredi communities of Williamsburg, doesn’t all the time report its calls to town, and as such some pedestrian strikes might not be mirrored within the knowledge.
Initially Revealed: July 9, 2025 at 4:28 PM EDT
