Eyes on the Street: Eighth Avenue Protected Bike Lane Heads North

Photo: Niles Ray

Reader Niles Ray sends in this bird’s-eye view of bike lane construction on Eighth Avenue at 37th Street.

The extension of protected bike lanes on Eighth and Ninth Avenues was proposed by DOT last year, and won subsequent community board approval. The lanes and pedestrian islands will provide safer passage for cyclists and pedestrians north to 59th Street, providing access to the huge numbers of jobs in west Midtown.

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DOT and Citi Bike marked the return of a protected bike lane to Sixth Avenue today with a ribbon-cutting and celebratory ride. The event also served to highlight Women’s Bike Month and a Motivate campaign to encourage women in NYC to ride bikes. The new Sixth Avenue bikeway runs from Eighth Street to 33rd Street, the same street where […]
The wider pedestrian zone is separated from the bike lane by planters, and the bike lane is separated from motor vehicle traffic by inexpensive bollards and low-profile barriers. Photo: NYCFreeParking/Twitter

This Block Now Has a Protected Bike Lane *and* a Wider Sidewalk

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Midtown Manhattan avenues have a problem: The sidewalks aren't wide enough for all the people walking on them. People have to walk in the roadbed to get where they're going. On avenues with protected bike lanes, this means people on foot spill over into bikeways, rendering them all but impassable for cyclists. Now there's a single Midtown block with a protected bike lane that also has a wider sidewalk.