Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Ryan Russo

Ryan Russo walks through the redesign of Queens Boulevard for Streetfilms.

Ryan Russo on NYC’s Bike Network Progress, Community Boards, and the Evolution of DOT

By Ben Fried | May 9, 2017 | 7 Comments

Russo discusses the state of bike network development, the potential introduction of different types of safety improvements to NYC streets, and how the public process for street redesign projects might be improved.

Russo remembers seeing a mother and daughter cycling on the Ninth Avenue protected bike lane soon after it debuted in 2007: "The idea that someone who's seven or eight years old would ride their own bicycle on an avenue in Manhattan -- it was an outlandish concept. The fact that someone had done that made me realize people were going to respond to this." Photo: NACTO

Q&A With Ryan Russo on the Early Days of the Plaza Program and Protected Bike Lanes in NYC

By Ben Fried | May 8, 2017 | 1 Comment

Few people have been so closely involved in the transformation of the city's streets over such a long period of time as Ryan Russo. So between his last day at NYC DOT and his move to the West Coast, I caught up with him to get an insider's perspective on more than a dozen years of change to NYC streets.

NYC Streets Maestro Ryan Russo Heading to Oakland

By Ben Fried | Mar 31, 2017 | 5 Comments

NYC DOT's top planner and a key figure in the ongoing evolution of New York City streets is moving on. Deputy Commissioner for Transportation Planning and Management Ryan Russo will be heading to Oakland as the city's first-ever DOT chief.

Ryan Russo on DOT’s “Mobility Report” and the Need for Better Bus Service

By David Meyer | Jun 10, 2016 | 3 Comments

DOT’s “New York City Mobility Report” [PDF], released earlier this week, is the agency’s first overview of NYC transportation trends in three years. As the number of people and jobs in the city has grown prodigiously in the past five years, DOT reports, the subway system and, increasingly, the bike network have allowed more New Yorkers to get […]

NYPD and DOT Back Bill to Expand Right of Way for Pedestrians

By David Meyer | Apr 4, 2016 | 9 Comments

NYPD and DOT both support a bill to give pedestrians more legal protection under the city’s Right of Way Law. The Right of Way Law took effect in August 2014 and made it a misdemeanor to hit a pedestrian or cyclist who has the right of way. But district attorneys and the police department often decline to […]

STREETFILMS

The Transformation of Queens Boulevard, Block By Block

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Jan 27, 2016 | No Comments

For many years, New York City’s Queens Boulevard was known as the “Boulevard of Death.” The street cuts through the heart of the Queens, expanding at some points to a chaotic 12 to 16 lanes of traffic — which makes it extremely dangerous for human beings. From 2003 to 2013, 38 pedestrians and cyclists were killed and 450 suffered severe injuries. Last year, the New York […]

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