Bike-Friendly Makeover For UES Street In The Works: DOT

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The New York City Department of Transportation is eyeing East 72nd Street for a major pedestrian- and bike-friendly redesign, officials said at an Upper East Side Community Board 8 meeting on Wednesday night.

According to a representative from the DOT, the full redesigned corridor along 72nd Street will run from Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side all the way to York Avenue on the Upper East Side.

The DOT will be presenting a plan for the Upper West Side's portion of the redesign on April 14 to the transportation committee of Community Board 7, which represents the Upper West Side, according to the board's committee agenda.

The 72nd Street redesign proposal includes adding protected bike lanes in both directions, painted pedestrian safety islands at intersections, and a center turn lane, Councilmember Gale Brewer recently wrote in her newsletter.

With this redesign, one travel lane would be removed in each direction, Brewer wrote.

According to Craig Lader, the co-chair of the Upper East Side Community Board's transportation committee, the Department of Transportation has not completed its planning process for the East Side's portion of the redesign, and the earliest the department would be able to present the redesign would be in June.

"We're still working for the East Side, and we have no date as to when it's going to be presented," Rafael Escano, a community coordinator at the Department of Transportation, said during the meeting.

See Community Board 8's full meeting here.

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.