NEW YORK — City crews have begun work to streamline bus traffic — and protect bike traffic — on DeKalb and Lafayette Avenues in Brooklyn, city officials expect to announce Thursday.

As previously reported, the project will add protected bike lanes and daytime bus lanes along the two avenues through Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Bedford-Stuyvesant to speed up bus travel on the B38 route by 20%.

“New Yorkers shouldn’t have to choose between getting where they need to go on time and getting there safely,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “On DeKalb and Lafayette, we’re putting that principle into practice with fast buses, protected bike lanes and safer streets.”

Much of the project will rely on parking-protected bike lanes and the removal of daytime parking on one side of the street to make room for a curbside bus lane.

Along DeKalb Ave., from Malcolm X Blvd. to Cumberland St., and along Lafayette Ave. from Adelphi St. to Classon Ave., one lane of parking will be removed between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays in order to accommodate a bus-only lane. The other parking lane will be moved away from the curb to create a protected bike lane, replacing the existing bike lane.

Both avenues will retain their current single lane of vehicular traffic along this stretch, and the curbside bus lanes would revert to parking lanes overnight and on weekends.

On DeKalb Ave. between Cumberland St. and Flatbush Ave., one lane of parking will be removed in favor of a wider, barrier-protected bike lane and a 24/7 bus lane running offset from the curb.

On Lafayette Ave. between Classon Ave. and Marcy Ave., where no bike lane currently exists, one lane of private vehicular traffic will be removed and replaced by a protected bike lane along the north curb. The south curb will host a bus-only lane from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

From Marcy Ave. to Patchen Ave., a similar arrangement with a larger bike lane would remove all parking for that stretch of Lafayette Ave., except for overnights and weekends.

“These avenues are critical east-west connections for bus riders and cyclists traveling from Downtown Brooklyn to Bed-Stuy and Bushwick,” Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn said about the project in September. “Our proposed comprehensive redesign of DeKalb and Lafayette will speed up buses and improve reliability for 18,000 average daily bus riders on the B38 with new bus lanes while enhancing safety for all road users with new protected bike lanes.”

Photos making the rounds on the internet this week show crews have already begun work removing the existing markings on sections of the avenues.

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