Results tagged “streetsblog”

NYC's DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan may be beloved by cycling enthusiasts for her radical expansion of the city's bike lanes, but to critics like Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, she's "an anti-car extremist. It's kind of easy for Ms. Sadik-Khan to be holier than thou and tell people they have no business driving. She may live down the block from the subway station—but most people don't." And John Liu, the City Council member from Queens who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee, says her agenda comes with "a sense of the elite telling the everyday people what’s good for them, and that’s simply not appreciated. I think it can no longer be ignored, the demographic groups calling for these changes versus the demographic groups that protest."

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The existence of dedicated bike lanes are a sought-after city feature by New York's cyclists; but even when they appear they're often blocked by delivery trucks and drivers who remain oblivious to their existence. While Mayor Bloomberg has attempted to discourage drivers--or cash in on them--in the city with congestion pricing, the mere existence of bike lanes apparently does little to prevent drivers from owning the roads. The Times looks into the conundrum of bike lane non-compliance today.

Although city regulations forbid cars from blocking bike lanes — a violation that carries a $115 fine — those rules are routinely ignored by drivers who use the lanes as parking spots, loading zones and places to pick up passengers. Such maneuvers have enraged cyclists who say they are unlawful, rude and dangerous.

Streetsblog recently featured some video from online magazine Slate, which set out to identify the stupidest bike lanes in America. Slate's conclusion: don't rely on a thin stripe of paint to protect you from idiotic or disrespectful drivers. For those who imagine that Europe is a halcyon haven of bike friendly traffic design, the Slate video has multiple examples to the contrary.

Wow! Streetsblog attended the Department of Transportation's and New York City Transit's "co-presentation" of the city's Bus Rapid Transit program and discovered "A Transit Miracle on 34th Street."

DOT will repave and restripe for five lanes between Third and Ninth Avenues by the end of this year, with painted bus lanes on the north and south sides and three auto lanes in the center. Service hours will also be extended. Phase 2 calls for a 34th Street Transitway, closing the street to cars between Fifth and Sixth and installing pedestrian plazas. On either side of that block, there would be two lanes for cars heading in one direction -- toward the rivers -- while on the other half of the street, buses would have two extra-wide lanes separated from traffic. In other words, buses would constitute the only through traffic on 34th Street. According to Sadik-Khan, 34th Street BRT will eventually tie in to new East River ferry service (details to be announced next week).

Like many wide crosstown streets, 34th has tons of traffic, especially with the Queens-Midtown Tunnel in the east. Buses are historically sluggish (or pokey) when traveling across 34th, and DoT Commissioner Jeannette Sadik-Khan said NYPD will have a unit "dedicated to bus lane enforcement."

Streetsblog has this terrific map (created by the Pratt Center for Community Development) illustrating the City Council's votes for and against congestion pricing, and laid NYC highways, subways, and commuter rail options over it.