Latest news with #Streetsblog
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC's Fifth Avenue getting $400M ‘pedestrian-centered' makeover — that drivers and cyclists are sure to hate
Fifth Avenue is getting a makeover — that drivers and cyclists are sure to hate — under a $400 million redesign project that Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday. The overhaul, which will be the first major redesign in the thoroughfare's 200-year history, aims to boost foot traffic in the shopping area by expanding sidewalks, trimming driving lanes and adding plants and lights, according to renderings provided by City Hall. The proposed new look for 'America's Street of Dreams' was released in October, but the multi-millions in funding to make it come true was locked down as part of Adams' budget plan for the 2026 fiscal year. 'Thanks to our 'Best Budget Ever,' we are bringing total investments up to over $400 million as we reclaim space for New Yorkers, their families and tourists, and cement Fifth Avenue's status as an economic engine and job creator for all five boroughs,' he said. Adams said the investments will pay for themselves within five years, thanks to increased sales and property tax revenues from the section of the avenue, between Bryant Park and Central Park South. Construction is not expected to start until 2028, officials said. But the ritzy redesign is already getting ripped by some New Yorkers — particularly cyclists and public transit lovers, as the current plan doesn't add bus or bike lanes. Adams' predecessor, Bill de Blasio, had planned on cutting down vehicle traffic to buses only in the space, but the mayor put those plans to bed after taking office, Streetsblog originally reported. 'Two mayors have now disregarded city workers' plans for a busway, throwing riders under the bus to favor luxury boutiques,' said Danny Pearlstein, communications director for the advocacy group Riders Alliance. 'Slow, unreliable bus service on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue wastes precious time for more than 100,000 working New Yorkers every single day,' he griped in a statement. Currently, Fifth Avenue is 100 feet wide with five traffic lanes and two 23-foot sidewalks. The corridor, sometimes called 'Millionaires row,' already features a myriad of luxe storefronts, which the city said it aims to make more accessible to pedestrians with the redesign project. The plan will nearly double the width of the sidewalks by 46%, shorten pedestrian crossings by a third, and shrink the road down to three lanes of traffic. Some city cyclists were alarmed that the plans didn't account for bike lanes on an already busy street. 'This plan entirely fails to meet the moment.' said the non-profit Transportation Alternatives in a post on X. '(Fifth Avenue) has the slowest bus speeds in NYC, and Fifth Avenue has the highest bike ridership of any street in Manhattan without a bike lane, but this plan leaves out buses and bikes entirely.' Other cycling aficionados were more optimistic. Neile Weissman, a spokesperson for the New York Cycle Club, said any plan that reduces vehicles on the roads equates to more safety for bikers. 'Making provision for cyclists would be great, but anything that makes walking and mass transit more attractive than driving for getting around Manhattan is a 'win,'' Weissman said. Dahlia Goldenberg, associate director of Families for Safe Streets, emphasized the need for protected bike and bus lanes for pedestrian safety. 'More pedestrian space is great. But speaking for an organization comprised of people who have lost loved ones to traffic crashes or experienced serious injury, a redesign of Fifth Avenue without a protected bike lane or bus lane is misguided,' Goldenberg said. 'Without space for bikes, neither people on bikes nor pedestrians can be fully protected or safe on the street,' she said. The current design was created in partnership with the Grand Central Partnership, the Central Park Conservancy and Bryant Park Corporation, the mayor's office said. Adams also introduced a plan to add a bus lane to 34th Street this week, just south of the new Fifth Avenue project, in a bid to reduce wait times for the city's over 28,000 riders. The busway — cheered by transit groups — will be the eight in the city and the seventh installed since 14th Street in 2019.
New York Post
21-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
NYC's Fifth Avenue getting $400M ‘pedestrian-centered' makeover — that drivers and cyclists are sure to hate
Fifth Avenue is getting a makeover — that drivers and cyclists are sure to hate — under a $400 million redesign project that Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday. The overhaul, which will be the first major redesign in the thoroughfare's 200-year history, aims to boost foot traffic in the shopping area by expanding sidewalks, trimming driving lanes and adding plants and lights, according to renderings provided by City Hall. 4 rendering of the corner of fifth ave under the proposed $400 million plan. Matthew McDermott Advertisement The proposed new look for 'America's Street of Dreams' was released in October, but the multi-millions in funding to make it come true was locked down as part of Adams' budget plan for the 2026 fiscal year. 'Thanks to our 'Best Budget Ever,' we are bringing total investments up to over $400 million as we reclaim space for New Yorkers, their families and tourists, and cement Fifth Avenue's status as an economic engine and job creator for all five boroughs,' he said. Adams said the investments will pay for themselves within five years, thanks to increased sales and property tax revenues from the section of the avenue, between Bryant Park and Central Park South. Advertisement Construction is not expected to start until 2028, officials said. But the ritzy redesign is already getting ripped by some New Yorkers — particularly cyclists and public transit lovers, as the current plan doesn't add bus or bike lanes. Adams' predecessor, Bill de Blasio, had planned on cutting down vehicle traffic to buses only in the space, but the mayor put those plans to bed after taking office, Streetsblog originally reported. 'Two mayors have now disregarded city workers' plans for a busway, throwing riders under the bus to favor luxury boutiques,' said Danny Pearlstein, communications director for the advocacy group Riders Alliance. Advertisement 'Slow, unreliable bus service on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue wastes precious time for more than 100,000 working New Yorkers every single day,' he griped in a statement. 4 Mayor Eric Adams announced the investment today to propel the project forward. Matthew McDermott 4 The renderings in their current iteration do not include bike lanes, and would reduce traffic lanes from five to three. Matthew McDermott Currently, Fifth Avenue is 100 feet wide with five traffic lanes and two 23-foot sidewalks. Advertisement The corridor, sometimes called 'Millionaires row,' already features a myriad of luxe storefronts, which the city said it aims to make more accessible to pedestrians with the redesign project. The plan will nearly double the width of the sidewalks by 46%, shorten pedestrian crossings by a third, and shrink the road down to three lanes of traffic. Some city cyclists were alarmed that the plans didn't account for bike lanes on an already busy street. 'This plan entirely fails to meet the moment.' said the non-profit Transportation Alternatives in a post on X. '(Fifth Avenue) has the slowest bus speeds in NYC, and Fifth Avenue has the highest bike ridership of any street in Manhattan without a bike lane, but this plan leaves out buses and bikes entirely.' Other cycling aficionados were more optimistic. Neile Weissman, a spokesperson for the New York Cycle Club, said any plan that reduces vehicles on the roads equates to more safety for bikers. 'Making provision for cyclists would be great, but anything that makes walking and mass transit more attractive than driving for getting around Manhattan is a 'win,'' Weissman said. 4 Fifth ave, sometimes called 'Millionaire's Row, ' is home to many luxury shopping stores and office buildings. Matthew McDermott Advertisement Dahlia Goldenberg, associate director of Families for Safe Streets, emphasized the need for protected bike and bus lanes for pedestrian safety. 'More pedestrian space is great. But speaking for an organization comprised of people who have lost loved ones to traffic crashes or experienced serious injury, a redesign of Fifth Avenue without a protected bike lane or bus lane is misguided,' Goldenberg said. 'Without space for bikes, neither people on bikes nor pedestrians can be fully protected or safe on the street,' she said. The current design was created in partnership with the Grand Central Partnership, the Central Park Conservancy and Bryant Park Corporation, the mayor's office said. Advertisement Adams also introduced a plan to add a bus lane to 34th Street this week, just south of the new Fifth Avenue project, in a bid to reduce wait times for the city's over 28,000 riders. The busway — cheered by transit groups — will be the eight in the city and the seventh installed since 14th Street in 2019.
Business Mayor
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- Business Mayor
Trump Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Is Dead Wrong About New York City's Bike Lanes – Streetsblog New York City
The most important transportation official in America said he thinks bike lanes cause congestion, decrease road safety and don't even result in more people riding — and questioned whether there's even data to disprove his suspicions when his own agencies actually have reams of it. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's ill-informed answer at the 2025 World Economy Summit came after Semafor White House correspondent Shelby Talcott asked the ultimate Streetsblog question: Why is the U.S. DOT reviewing all bike-related government grants and programs? Is the federal government trying to reduce bike use? First, Duffy grimaced and grumbled, expletive-style, 'Bikes,' before spewing a gut impressions about bike use that are all-too-common among people who only get around by car. 'I'm not opposed to bikes,' he started, before revealing his opposition. 'But in New York … they want to expand bike lanes, and then they get more congestion. … What are the roads for, and how do we use our roads? If we put bikes on roadways, and then we get congestion, it's a really bad experience for a lot of people. 'I do think it's a problem when we're making massive investments in bike lanes to at the expense of vehicles,' he added. 'I do think you see more congestion when you add bike lanes and take away vehicle lanes. That's a problem.' (The full answer was a thing to behold, so we recommend that you watch it in full here): He also went on to say that bike lanes are 'really dangerous for bikers' in urban areas and that Europe, which has made cities more livable due to massive post-gas crisis expansion of bike lanes and pedestrianization, is not worth emulating, despite its lower road fatality rates. 'We don't have the same mentality as Europeans do, and so I don't think we should necessarily buy into the European model,' he added (oddly seconds after praising European high-speed rail in an earlier answer). Duffy acknowledged 'there's some places bike lanes might make sense,' but his repeated mention of New York City ignored how much sense street redesigns make for the Big Apple in particular. Reams of data show the city's protected bike lanes reduce traffic injuries while encouraging more people to bike (including drivers). A 2020 study found the city's protected bike lanes actually improved traffic speeds. The good news? Duffy said he'd be willing to 'look at data' and if the data show that bike lanes saved lives and reduced congestion, 'we should do more bike lanes.' Fortunately for the secretary, Streetsblog has been providing data on the benefits for bike lanes (and the stubborn myths that tend to follow them) since 2006 — including decades of data on this very topic that his administration recently scrubbed from federal websites. Here's a point-by-point explainer for the Secretary, and anyone else who needs one, starting with his most pressing questions. First things first: what does Duffy even mean by 'bike lanes'? false If he means 'high-quality, separated bike lanes that physically divide motorists from vulnerable road users they might strike,' the answer is a resounding (and pretty damn intuitive) yes. The Federal Highway Administration's own website on bike lanes says that even just adding flexible plastic posts to paint-only on-road cycle paths can reduce total crashes up to 53 percent — and putting harder infrastructure like concrete jersey barriers or curbs between motorists and fragile human bodies is so much better that most researchers don't even bother to study it. Even paint-only bike lanes are shown to save lives, with one FHWA study showing a 49-percent reduction in total crashes on urban four-lane, undivided collectors and local roads after striping went in. On two-lane, undivided urban collectors, those roads still showed a whopping 30 percent crash reduction. Those are total crash reductions, by the way, not just those involving cyclists — and again, those are all studies of the least protective of bike lane designs, not the high-quality, separated kind that cyclists across the country are demanding, and that U.S. DOT can help cities build on the cheap. Here's a simple example from Duffy's home state of Wisconsin as a visual aid: false Imagine what Duffy could do if he put in more lanes like these. This is a hard no. No, bike lanes do not increase congestion. Let's go back to that same FHWA bike lane page for our answer.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Oops, We Did Redlining Again
The allure of profiting off the desirability of walkable neighborhoods might be encouraging real estate developers to perpetuate racial inequity. A recent academic paper published last month found that the variables rewarded by Walk Score disproportionally led to the Chicago census tracts with the highest share of white residents being ranked the highest. However, the real estate metric doesn't account for vehicle-pedestrian crash rates or how many residents walk rather than drive. For those of you who have never gone real estate hunting in a city or suburb, Walk Score is intended to quantify a neighborhood's walkability with a simple score between zero and 100. The score carries a lot of weight because it directly implies that it's better to live in one place is better than another. Walk Score's website even states that one point on its metric is worth $3,000 in home value, a worrying statistic with high scores correlates with how white an area is. The pair of researchers who wrote the paper argues that walkable neighborhoods should be considered more valuable, but Walk Score outvalues nearby amenities while ignoring the affordability of those amenities. Kate Lowe, an associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, told Streetsblog: "To me, what Walk Score really is a measure of is destination concentration, and destinations are tied to investment flows. And anything that measures investment flows in a landscape of structural racial inequity is going to reflect those inequities." Read more: These Are What You Wanted As First Cars (And What You Got Instead) Walk Score essentially measures how much investment was previously made into a community. This reasoning omits why low-income and Black-majority areas lack amenities. For many neighborhoods, it traces back to redlining in the 1930s when minority-majority neighborhoods were denied federally-backed mortgages. Decades later, the systemic discrimination was compounded when urban freeways were driven through many of the same neighborhoods during the construction of the Interstate Highway System. These trends aren't relegated to history books but still impact cities today. Communities of color are still fighting highway expansions because adding a lane would mean the destruction of homes and the amenities that Walk Score gives out points for. In 2022, a proposed expansion to a 3.5-mile stretch of Interstate 94 in Milwaukee slated a gas station and a Black-owned bar for demolition. With no supermarkets, grocery stores or fast-food restaurants, the gas station is the only local source of food. Unsurprisingly, the Milwaukee neighborhood has a Walk Score of 45, classed as car-dependent. The low score would likely discourage investment rather than encourage a developer to open a grocery store, which is precisely the problem with Walk Score. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
