At Mudspot, Cars Lose Parking Space To Bike Rack

Bike Parking at Smith and Sackett StreetsGersh Kuntzman The only other example of in-street parking in the city at Smith and Sackett Streets in Brooklyn.

The Mudspot on East Ninth Street will get the first in-street bike parking of its kind in Manhattan, which will claim one space for a car and give cyclists eights new spots to lock up.

“As cycling increases in popularity, we’re starting to look to the street for parking,” said Hayes Lord, the bicycle program director for the Department of Transportation.

Under the plan, a car-length space would be cordoned off with planters and four circular bike racks would be installed. Mudspot lobbied for the additional parking and will be responsible for keeping the area clean.

During a presentation to Community Board 3’s Transportation Committee, Transportation official Wallace Murray said that the parking would help alleviate the foot-traffic jam caused by the numerous bicycles locked up in front of the cafe just as the sidewalk narrows.

bikelaneDaniel Maurer The Mudspot.

The committee voted in favor of the parking plan, which Mr. Lord said he expected to be installed in early spring.

In other cycling developments in the neighborhood, Ian Dutton, a former member of Community Board 2 and a cyclist himself, urged the city to extend the bike lane on East Second Street to First Avenue.

“With the Second Avenue and First Avenue lanes, this links both routes,” said Mr. Dutton.

Currently, the bike lane on Bleecker Street feeds into East Second Street, but then stops at Second Avenue. Mr. Dutton said that with the First Avenue bike lane providing a conduit to northeastern Manhattan, it made sense for the crosstown lane to be extended the extra block. The lane would not reduce parking.

The committee concurred and voted in favor of the proposal, though Mr. Lord said it could not be implemented until next year.