Disabled Upper West Side residents are suing to block the city’s controversial redesign of West 72nd Street, escalating the battle over a planned protected bike lane there that locals have fiercely opposed.
The complaint, filed Friday in Manhattan federal court, names seven plaintiffs — including a blind woman — who live on the popular main thoroughfare and use wheelchairs, scooters, canes and walkers to get around.
The group says the new street design — which will cut the number of vehicular traffic lanes from four to two while shifting the current buffer of parking away from the curb to install a two-way bike lane — will make them “virtual shut-ins.”
That’s because it will force disabled residents to cross fast-moving bike and e-scooter traffic in the bike lane to now reach taxis, Access-A-Ride, buses and emergency vehicles — a situation they won’t want to attempt for fear of their safety, the suit says…