Eyes on the Street: Concrete Progress on Eighth Ave Protected Bike Lane

By Ben Fried
Jul 6, 2012

Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke fame sends these shots of another milestone in the extension of the Eighth Avenue protected bike lane: The pedestrian islands are going in. These pools of pure unspoiled concrete were spied at the intersection of 35th Street.

Watching this NYC DOT safety project take shape in the heart of Midtown, a favorite quote from livable streets guru Jan Gehl comes to mind: “How nice is it to wake up every morning and know that your city is a little bit better than it was the day before.”

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Fifth Avenue at 48th Street: Lots of space for cars, cramped conditions on the margins for people walking and biking. Photo: Google Maps

DOT Still Lacks a Plan for Better Walking and Biking in the Heart of Midtown

By David Meyer | Sep 26, 2017

At a Community Board 5 meeting, dozens of people called out DOT for hesitating to claim street space for wide sidewalks and protected bike lanes in the most crowded part of the city.

DOT Commits to Sixth Ave Protected Bike Lane From 14th to 33rd Streets

By Stephen Miller | Sep 22, 2015

DOT says it will begin planning and outreach later this year for a protected bike lane on Sixth Avenue between 14th and 33rd Streets in Manhattan. The announcement comes after years of advocacy by the Transportation Alternatives Manhattan activist committee, which called for protected bike lanes and pedestrian islands on Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. The […]

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

By David Meyer | Aug 7, 2017

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.

Eyes on the Street: Breathing Room for Pedestrians on Eighth Avenue in Midtown

By Brad Aaron | Jun 27, 2017

The city added nine feet of walking space (a 40 percent increase) to the west side of Eighth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets, north of the bus terminal. Planters line what used to be a parking lane next to a buffered bike lane, which remains intact.

Eyes on the Street: Hudson Street Protected Bike Lane Under Construction

By Brad Aaron | Jun 23, 2014

Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke fame tweeted these photos from Hudson Street in the West Village, where DOT is installing a parking-protected bike lane that’s seeing use before the green paint goes down. The upgrade was requested by Community Board 2. As Streetsblog reported in April, it converts the buffered bike lane on Hudson into […]

What Protected Bike Lanes on Midtown Cross Streets Might Look Like

By David Meyer | Dec 9, 2015

We reported yesterday that DOT is exploring the potential for crosstown protected bike lanes in Midtown. Currently, the painted crosstown bike lanes on Midtown cross streets tend to get blocked by cars. Here’s how one reader put it: My main complaint as a crosstown cyclist in midtown during the workday are streets that are so calm that nothing […]