Bike/Ped
Doubts About DOT Congestion Prescription in Jax Heights
Community activists in Jackson Heights have been complaining about congestion at the corner at 73rd St. and 37th Ave. (right) for years. A major traffic study of the area is underway, but according to a DOT spokesman, the department didn't want to wait to implement "short-term initiatives" that could ease the problem. Problem is, some of the activists--including Will Sweeney of the Western Jackson Heights Alliance--aren't necessarily thrilled with the department's solution.
October 3, 2007
Meat Market Plaza is Open for Business
The interim redesign of Ninth Avenue and 14th Street is done. Tables, chairs, planters and some of those giant granite blocks from DOT's Bridges Division have been set out as multipurpose bollard-bench-tables atop a gravelly, earth-tone pavement surface.
September 27, 2007
NYC Gets Its First-Ever Physically-Separated Bike Path
The Department of Transportation revealed plans for New York City's first-ever physically-separated bike lane, or "cycle track," at a Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting last night. The new bike path will run southbound on Ninth Avenue from W. 23rd to W. 16th Street in Manhattan. Unlike the typical Class II on-street bike lane in which cyclists mix with motor vehicle traffic, this new design will create an exclusive path for bicycles between the sidewalk and parked cars.
September 20, 2007
German Town Chooses Human Interaction Over Traffic Signals
Driving (carefully) with Dutch "shared space" guru and traffic engineer Hans Monderman.
September 14, 2007
Bike & Ped Improvements Slated for Manhattan Bridge Approach
DOT plans to build a physically-separated two-way bike lane on this one block stretch of Canal Street at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge. The project also includes pedestrian safety fixes.
August 27, 2007
Pay Phones May Be a Bad Call for City
An article in today's New York Times looks at the city's most prominent -- and profitable -- form of street furniture, the pay telephone:
August 17, 2007
Secretary Peters Says Bikes “Are Not Transportation”
We'd expect this kind of thing from some people, but not U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters. On PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" this week, Peters stated that instead of raising taxes on gasoline to renew the nation's sagging infrastructure, Congress should examine its spending priorities -- including investments in bike paths and trails, which, Peters said, "are not transportation."
August 17, 2007
Weiner on the Environment: Big Talk, Small Stick
Where's the beef? Under Rep. Anthony Weiner's plan, vehicles, like the one above, would not be charged a fee to use New York City's most heavily congested streets
August 15, 2007
More on Rep. Patrick McHenry
Grist's Dave Roberts provides some more background on Rep. Patrick McHenry, the North Carolina Republican Congressman who ridiculed bicycling as a "19th century solution" during debate over the "Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007." The House bill, which passed on Aug. 4, included a $20/month tax break for bike commuters:
August 13, 2007
Kids Demand Respect in the Streets of Brooklyn
A rendering of a mural proposed for Butler St. and Third Ave., one block from the Brooklyn intersection where a 4-year-old boy was killed by the driver of a Hummer in February.
July 20, 2007