Why Does 8th Avenue Have 6 Lanes for Cars While People Are Crammed in the Margins?

Clarence Eckerson and Mark Gorton are back in Midtown, where sidewalks are too narrow to accommodate pedestrian traffic.

In this short Streetfilm, you can see how people are forced off the sidewalk and into the Eighth Avenue bikeway at 43rd Street outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The sidewalk is so skinny and so packed with humanity that cyclists in the bike lane have to thread between the curb and a parallel, impromptu walkway in the painted buffer zone next to parked cars. Meanwhile, the city gives motor vehicles six lanes of asphalt.

It’s chaotic. And as Mark points out, “It’s a choice. We consistently prioritize the cars over the people.”

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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.