Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Pedestrian Infrastructure

AASHTO: New Rule Makes It Too Hard to Ignore Cyclists and Pedestrians

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 12, 2011 | No Comments

For years, state DOTs have exploited a loophole of federal government policy that allowed them to build massive, publicly funded projects without accommodating non-motorized users as long as they could show that “due consideration” had been given to bicyclists and pedestrians. But last year, US DOT gave that requirement some teeth, issuing a directive specifying […]

Eyes on the Street: Two Lanes of Ped Space Coming to Chelsea Subway Stop

By Noah Kazis | Apr 12, 2011 | 13 Comments

Construction is underway at the intersection of 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, where DOT is building new pedestrian refuge islands and a sidewalk extension to provide some extra space around a busy subway station. The intersection, currently in the 99th percentile for severity-weighted traffic injuries in the city, will also have its signals […]

Pedestrian Refuges Provide Simple Safety Fix for Roosevelt Island Bridge

By Noah Kazis | Apr 7, 2011 | 4 Comments

At the foot of the Roosevelt Island Bridge, DOT is showing off how a few simple improvements can turn a dangerous intersection into a safer one. It’s not a flashy redesign — just a pair of pedestrian refuges and improved crosswalks — but it’s a good example of the street safety improvements that are becoming […]

SoHo’s Rejected Pop-Up Cafés Won’t Appear Elsewhere

By Noah Kazis | Mar 29, 2011 | 3 Comments

Last Thursday evening, Manhattan Community Board 2 voted down five of six approved pop-up cafés in their neighborhood, choosing parking spaces over public seating. In the wake of that defeat, we were hoping that, as with Midwestern governors sending their high speed rail dollars to California, their loss would be someone else’s gain. Would those […]

Pop-Up Café Expansion Faces Critical Community Board Vote Tonight

By Noah Kazis | Mar 24, 2011 | 18 Comments

When DOT installed its first “pop-up café” over a few parking spaces on Lower Manhattan’s Pearl Street last summer, the 14-table public seating area helped increase business by 14 percent at its two sponsoring restaurants. With New York City still recovering from recession and much of the city starved for public space, DOT has moved […]

The Fulton Street Mall: Retail Success on NYC’s Original Transitway

By Noah Kazis | Mar 14, 2011 | 11 Comments

As the New York Post continues its increasingly tedious assault on pedestrians and crosstown transit riders, its writers always seem to suggest that giving priority to buses in an important retail area is both radical and self-evidently bad for business. If they bothered to look just one borough away, they’d see that nothing could be […]

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