The newly paved two-way bike lane on Prospect Park West, which runs from Grand Army Plaza to Bartel Pritchard Square, has caused something of a "bike lane war" among local residents. Completed this summer, the new green lane reduces the total number of car lanes from three to two but provides bikers with a safe and fast route through Park Slope. Those opposed to the bike lane argue that it has caused "terrible traffic [and] accidents," while those in favor state that it "makes the street safer for everyone!" The latter seem to have come out of the war victorious, as it is likely that the lane will remain.
Prospect Park West before the bike lane, in the early 2000s.
Prospect Park West has a long history as a shared roadway, however. Though its entire width - three lanes, with two additional for parking - has been dedicated exclusively to drivers for decades, it was composed of two lanes for cars and two for trolley tracks from the late 19th century until the 1950s. These tracks were part of a large streetcar network that was gradually eliminated in the 1940s and 1950s and replaced by bus lines.
Trolley tracks on Prospect Park West in the 1950s. Photo from brooklynpix.com.
Though many American cities have brought back trolley lines in the last few years, the Brooklyn trolley system has been nearly forgotten. Perhaps if the Dodgers (originally the Trolley Dodgers) came back to Brooklyn, we'd see the trolley lines come back, too.
Residents can travel two hours upstate to the Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston to see original Brooklyn and Queens cars. A few old cars can also be seen behind Fairway Market in Red Hook.
BMT "Surface Division" map, presumably from the 1940s.
A section of an old trolley track visible in Bartel Pritchard Square.
The same corner at Bartel Pritchard Square, 1950 and today.
