#Cyclists frozen out of bike lanes after blizzard hits NYC

Big Apple bicyclists are hitting a wall — of snow.

A bunch of city bike lanes are still blocked by piles of the white stuff days after a blizzard hit the five boroughs — and cyclists are seething.

“It’s the worst place for it to happen,” two-wheel enthusiast Forrest Pelsue, 27, said Sunday of the slushy lanes outside Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza.

“I just think it’s really dangerous,” she said of the conditions. “This is such a crazy intersection to bike through already. Biking against traffic [thanks to snow-covered bike lanes] — it’s not safe.”

Sam Witke, 24, added that this is not the first time city cyclists have been left out in the cold.

“It’s not unusual to have it like this,” Witke said. “What can the city do to help you? Shovel it. It’s dangerous.”

On Berry Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, riders were forced to swerve out into traffic to avoid the snow still packing its dedicated bike lanes.

The blocked lanes come as bike-riding has soared in the city.

According to city records, nearly 900,000 New Yorkers ride a bike regularly, with more than 500,000 cycling trips on a typical day.

As for the weekend, bike riding in Gotham is up 57 percent over last year.

In October alone, the city Department of Transportation counted more than 650,000 bicycle trips across the four East River crossings, data shows.

But bike advocates said that after last week’s snowfall, many riders willing to brave the cold weather are hitting snowy snags.

“If you don’t own a car, which is the majority of New Yorkers, you’re essentially very inconvenienced,” said Noel Hidalgo, co-founder of the North Brooklyn Open Streets Community Coalition, to The Post on Sunday.

“It’s just really disappointing that, you know, that pedestrian infrastructure, bike infrastructure has not been considered after this week’s snowstorm,” he said.

Hidalgo noted that the handicapped are among those people suffering the worst. Parents trying to take their kids out for a walk are getting stymied, also, the advocate said.

“If you’re using a walker, if you’re using a wheelchair, if you’re using a stroller, the city’s pretty much sticking up its middle finger at you right now,” he said.

Last week’s blizzard, which occurred Wednesday into Thursday, dropped up to a foot of snow on parts of the five boroughs.

A rep for the city DOT told The Post on Sunday that the department has jurisdiction over about 30 miles of bike lanes that were or are being cleared.

The city Department of Sanitation, which has primary plowing responsibilities over more than 19,000 miles of lanes, added taht keeping roads passable for emergency vehicles is a priority during snow falls.

A representative for the department said that once the snow stops falling, workers and temporary laborers are enlisted to clear pedestrian and bike paths both by shoveling and through the use of small “skid steer” plows.

That work has been ongoing since the storm, the rep said.