A Queens judge pumped the brakes Friday on the city’s plans to carve a bike lane through an industrial stretch of Long Island City — ruling that claims it was being pushed through illegally might have some merit.
The Department of Transportation was hit with a temporary restraining order after business owners along Review Avenue accused the city agency of steering ahead without conducting a safety study.
“Not every road is appropriate for a bike lane, just for safety reasons. I understand that people want to go from point A to point B, and what they think is the most direct, but it might not be the safest way,” Matthew Dienstag, co-owner of the local LeNoble Lumber, told The Post.
“We were always just asking DOT to consider alternatives, and really they gave us, in my regard, lip service. They had their mind made up.”
Dienstag led the legal charge to stop the bike lane this month after 32 business owners along the strip penned a petition asking the DOT to pause — not stop — the project before construction was slated to begin this fall.
The lawsuit alleges that the city never conducted either safety or environmental studies for the proposed route, which would connect the Pulaski and Kosciuszko bridges by way of Borden, Starr and Review avenues — a dangerous sector of Blissville infamous for its big-truck congestion.
After deciding on the route, the DOT met with the dozens of local businesses in the industrial corner to hear their thoughts — before ultimately ignoring their pleas, Dienstag alleged.
The group raised concerns that a bike path on the heavily trafficked corridor would pose a safety issue.
The route is plagued with constant truck and forklift traffic, with massive box trucks swerving across both lanes to enter and exit their warehouses — a tricky maneuver made even more difficult by the chronic double-parking problem on the overcrowded streets.
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In ignoring their concerns, the DOT acted “arbitrarily, capriciously, and illegally, and they abused their discretion,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Let’s look at the alternatives before you just run head first into a plan that significantly impacts businesses in our mind, as well as in a traffic consultant that we engaged to study this route. It decreases safety, it doesn’t increase safety,” said Dienstag.
The DOT, however, previously told The Post it had conducted a detailed study of the project zone from both a bike and freight truck perspective.
“This project addresses critical safety needs for everyone by narrowing lanes on an unsafe corridor and protecting cyclists on a highly traveled route between Brooklyn and Western Queens. Our proposals utilize common design elements found on streets across the city and we will defend our work in court,” DOT spokesperson Vincent Barone told The Post.
The path was requested by the local community board, civic associations and Councilwoman Julie Won to create a safe passageway for cyclists.
The temporary restraining order isn’t the end of the bike path just yet — the DOT will have a chance to defend its plan at a hearing next month.