Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Bicycle Infrastructure

The Livable Streets Leader You’ve Never Heard Of: Leicester, England

By Stephen Miller | Jun 28, 2013 | 5 Comments

Leicester is a city of about 330,000 in England’s East Midlands region. Like many other cities, it developed big mid-century plans to drive highways through its city center and paved over much of its historic core. In some cases, it even paved over its history: the bones of King Richard III, killed in battle nearby, […]

At Long Last, DOT Proposes Bike Lanes for Upper Manhattan

By Brad Aaron | Jun 6, 2013 | 14 Comments

Responding to years of citizen advocacy and a resolution from Manhattan Community Board 12, DOT has proposed bike lanes for a number of streets in Upper Manhattan. Most of the lanes, concentrated in Washington Heights [PDF], would be installed next year, after a consultation with CB 12 this fall. One would be protected by parked […]

Warm Weather Bike Count Flat in 2012, While Winter Counts Grow

By Stephen Miller | Mar 22, 2013 | 24 Comments

Earlier this week, DOT released its 2012 bike counts [PDF], including a new dataset — counts from the winter months. The agency has been tallying cyclists in December, January, and February for five years, and this year released the winter counts, in addition to April-through-October counts, for the first time. The data show that warm […]

Why Does DOT Keep Taking Away Inwood Bike Infrastructure?

By Brad Aaron | Jan 8, 2013 | 17 Comments

A short stretch of bike lanes in Inwood has gone the way of the disappearing bike shelter, further reducing the neighborhood’s scarce cycling infrastructure. West 218th Street, Manhattan’s northernmost cross street to extend west of Broadway, connects Broadway and Inwood Hill Park, and delineates the southern border of the Columbia University Baker Field complex. It […]

Myth Busted: Safer Streets Are Not Slowing Emergency Responders

By Brad Aaron | Jan 3, 2013 | 9 Comments

A go-to NIMBY argument against safe street improvements is that bike lanes, pedestrian plazas, and ped refuge islands interfere with emergency responders. In 2009, one complainer at an event sponsored by then-Council Member Alan Gerson claimed that pedestrian islands on Grand Street “put lives in danger” by slowing down fire trucks and ambulances. Opponents of the […]

State DOT’s Spending Blueprint Overlooks Walking and Biking

By Brad Aaron | Dec 6, 2012 | 3 Comments

Advocates for safer streets are alarmed by a New York State DOT “blueprint” for capital investments that scarcely acknowledges walking or biking as modes of transportation. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign noted in November that the NYS DOT document released with the file name “Two Year Capital Plan” [PDF] made virtually no mention of pedestrians or cyclists. “Although the document […]

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