The Post is horrified that "A slew of officials have failed to report a humiliating spelling error — 'SHCOOL X-NG' — plastered on Stanton Street outside a Lower East Side high school for months." It's been on the street so long, it's on Google Maps! Also, The Lo Down was all over earlier. more ›

The DOT has released its report on cycling in NYC and determined that the number of people who commute by bicycle has increased 8% over last year. (Read it below) Overall, bike riding has increased 102% compared to 2007 and by 289% compared to 2001, says the DOT, which measures commuter cyclists by counting them at the four East River bridges, the Hudson River Greenway at 50th Street, and the Whitehall ferry terminal. An average of 18,846 cyclists per day was recorded this year, up from 17,491 in 2010. The DOT attributes the increase in large part to Steve Cuozzo the DOT: more ›

Last night, "Rock Center with Brian Williams" dipped its toe into the topic of New York City transportation: specifically, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Overall the piece is a fair one, and gives Sadik-Khan plenty of room to answer her critics and lay out her vision for a safer, cleaner, more efficient city. But Brian Williams, who is supposed to be the network's "young," affable anchor, turns into NBC's Steve Cuozzo. Williams tells reporter Harry Smith that he's "drunk the Kool-Aid" when Smith lauds the DOT's efforts, and calls Sadik-Khan "a very powerful woman with an exotic name." Haha, it's mass suicide to support bike lanes! And isn't "Ronald Reagan" exotic compared to "Brian Williams?" more ›

Bad news for anyone who commutes on four wheels, ever tries to get out of the city, or lives remotely near the highway: the BQE and the Gowanus expressway won't be getting better anytime soon. The city has just killed plans to revamp and repair major chunks of both expressways, citing, unsurprisingly, a lack of cash. more ›

DOT uses / Money from drunk driver fines / To buy new haikus! Today DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan unveiled the first of 216 safety signs featuring colorful artwork and haikus. The signs will be installed at a dozen high-crash locations near cultural institutions and schools citywide, using state money collected from DWI fines. Haikus for safer streets! We can't wait to hear what cantankerous NY Post columnist Steve Cuozzo has to say about this! ("In the good old days / Cars ran poets down like dogs / Wrote rhymes with their blood.") more ›

Hey, Brooklyn: If you're planning to get out of town on this long Veteran's Day Weekend, better do it fast—and think about taking Monday off, too—because there are all sorts of traffic nightmares awaiting you in the next 55 hours. more ›

The genteel residents of the Upper West Side are being plagued by super-powered mosquitoes that hide under the cover over darkness—and the Health Department just doesn't care, they say. more ›

You may not have noticed because you're an on-the-go New Yorker making things happen with your big city ambition and consistent failure to call your mother, but there is a desperate shortage of places to sit down and catch your breath in this town! Soon enough, that will be remedied, as the DOT today announced an ambitious plan to install 1,000 new CityBenches throughout NYC over the next three years. Take a look at the cool new design you'll probably be too busy to ever enjoy. more ›

Sure, New York City has a pothole tumblr—The Daily Pothole—that brags about "6,290,591 square yards resurfaced in 2011" but for some residents, the potholes that are ruining their drives and vehicles aren't going to be fixed in a timely manner because the Department of Transportation considers them "street defects." The Post reports that former Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Fidel Del Valle contacted 311 to report potholes in Marine Park, only to be told they were "sinkholes" and therefore they were the responsibility of the Department of Environmental Protection. more ›

Capitulating to pressure from City Council, the mayor's office and the DOT have agreed to hold public hearings regarding the new bike-share program before it is implemented. "No one is against bike-share—it's something that every major city across the world is adopting and bracing," councilmember Leroy Comrie tells the Times, "But what I don't want to see happen is a pattern develop, where City Hall finds ways to exclude Council from its natural role." Exactly, you want Council to be properly informed before making a huge decision of policy. more ›

The DOT's 4th annual Summer Streets initiative—which clears nearly seven miles of Manhattan streets of cars for 3 consecutive Saturdays—began today at 7 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m. Photographic evidence doesn't appear to confirm the theory that it's a "bikes-only affair." In fact, there were plenty of non-terrorists enjoying horn-free thoroughfares and pop-up sandboxes. Summer Streets will return next Saturday. more ›

Any pedestrian who has crossed Delancey Street at Essex Street knows that hustling to beat the all-too-short light can be a harrowing experience. The Daily News calls the intersection "among the deadliest in New York," and the evidence bears this out: between 1998 and 2010, pedestrians and cyclists were involved in 134 out of 523 accidents, including 3 fatalities, according to the the state's Department of Transportation records. more ›

Cruel mistress Lovely Rita Meter Maid is preparing to drive her poison-tipped pumps down on the necks of drivers outside of Manhattan, as the DOT is proposing to raise meter rates for the second time in two years, by 25 cents to raise the total of $1.00 an hour. Their budget is on the hurt and the agency needs cash, but pols aren't happy. Queens councilwoman Karen Koslowitz tells the Daily News that the rate increase is "unconscionable," and Bronx councilman James Vacca is vowing to "negotiate the rate hike out of the DOT's budget plan," which is what they did last January. Maybe it would just be easier to secede? more ›

After criticism that the Department of Transportation has been lagging with filling potholes after one of the worst winters ever, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn announced that the city will add another $40 million to fix the troubled streets. Her news came during a City Council hearing where members blasted the DOT—Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn) said he got two flat tires from potholes last week, "I can only imagine what's happening to my constituents." more ›

Despite its new speed limit signs, it appears the poorly designed off-ramp traffic flow on the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge has caused yet another accident. The Post reports that "around 5:30 a.m, a 2007 Volkswagon Golf lost control as it went down the outer ramp into Queens," before hitting scaffolding and finally landing onto a parked livery car. Luckily, the driver only received "minor injuries," while the passenger and livery car driver were unscathed. more ›

Remember this guy? He's the Council member who made headlines with his idea to make cyclists get licenses. (At the time, he told us, "The people on bicycles brought this on themselves by behaving this way.") Our favorite young Republican, Eric Ulrich, is back with more insights into the city's transportation system. This time his ire aimed at the DOT for planning more pedestrian plazas, which Ulrich says shouldn't be built until every street in NYC (or at least his district in Queens) is in mint condition. more ›

Remember when the city launched its Select Bus Service program in October on First and Second Avenues and had a whole lot of problems? And how Mayor Bloomberg said nobody would write about how the program was a success in six months? Well, we do. We mentioned how well it was doing in January and now we're happy to mention that newly released stats from the DOT show the experiment is actually doing really, really well. Y'know, if you believe everything the DOT says. more ›

Something was missing in the new rules for the Passangers Bill of Rights. Peanuts. Though last year the Department of Transportation asked for public opinion on how to deal with passengers with nut allergies, it turns out there is a law that makes it currently impossible for it to ban or restrict them from flights. more ›

The U.S. Department of Transportation has updated its Passenger Bill of Rights and the new rules are good for the common flyer. Highlights include the fact that, when the new rules start in a few months, airlines will not be able to keep international flights on the tarmac for more than four hours and they'll have to reimburse luggage fees for lost lost luggage. Also the amount of money you are eligible for if you are involuntarily bumped from a flight is being doubled. more ›

The plan for a pedestrian mall on 34th Street has been scrapped (much to the delight of the Post's Steve Cuzzo), but now the city is proposing a new plan that's sure to have the anti-bike lane/pedestrian plaza/anything-that-isn't-more-cars crowd reeling. New plans for 34th Street would pare the street down to just two lanes for cars, one going east and one going west, and bus-only lanes on either side. Dan Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership, told the Times that he was happy about the plan, because, "It is not a good thing for Midtown retail to have a screaming four-lane roadway." We'll wait for the inevitable screed on some "new" lack of Midtown parking or whatever, but for now the Post has a new enemy: pop-up cafés. more ›