A lawsuit brought forth by the Century Condominium, charging that the city’s decision to create a protected bike lane on Central Park West required a formal environmental review, has been dismissed. This was first reported by Streetsblog.
The condo board argued that the protected bike lane would lead to increased vehicle traffic, and as a result, increased pollution.
But Justice Lynn Kotler ruled that a full environmental review was not necessary to create the protected bike lane, since a painted bike lane already exists.
Kotler stated,
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″] “The challenged determination at issue can only be characterized as a reorganization of parking and a pre-existing bicycle lane. Respondents’ determination that such an action will not have any significant adverse environmental impacts is rational and otherwise supported by the record.As we have seen so many times under Vision Zero, protected bike lanes save lives. The lane along Central Park West is now complete up to West 77th Street, and we expect to finish installing the lane up to West 110th Street in the spring.”
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Here’s the full ruling by Kotler.
Motivated primarily by pedestrian safety, the north-bound bike lane on Central Park West was first approved by Community Board 7 this summer, granting the removal of 400 parking spaces between 59th and 110th Streets on the east side of Central Park West.
