New York City began construction on Nov. 5 of bus lanes and protected bike lanes on DeKalb Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. The project covers the B38 bus, which carries about 18,000 riders a day, along a 2.7-mile stretch.
New York City on Thursday, Nov. 5, began work to redesign DeKalb Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. The project aims to speed up buses and add protected bike lanes and pedestrian safety features along the B38 bus route, which serves about 18,000 riders a day. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Mike Flynn, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), announced the start of construction.
The redesign covers DeKalb Avenue from Broadway to Flatbush Avenue and Lafayette Avenue from Ashland Place to Patchen Avenue. Across the two sections, a total of 2.7 miles of offset and curbside bus lanes and protected bike lanes will be built. The corridor runs from Downtown Brooklyn through Bedford-Stuyvesant to Bushwick.
According to the city, 841 people have been injured in crashes on the two streets since 2021, 47 of them seriously. One person was killed. Eighty percent of residents living within a quarter mile of the B38 commute by public transit, bike or on foot, and many households do not own a car.
The work is part of "Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service," a program led by the city, New York State and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The program aims to improve speed and reliability on 175 bus routes citywide, about 75% of the entire bus network. The city said it carried out similar projects this year in the Bronx (Fordham Road, 161st Street and Tremont Avenue), Manhattan (34th Street, 116th Street, Madison Avenue and Lexington Avenue), Brooklyn (Marcy, Flatbush, Utica and Church Avenues, and Linden Boulevard), Staten Island (Victory Boulevard) and Queens (Broadway).