Blaz is off the chain
Going bike- and bus-lane bonkers across city
Dozens of miles of city streets will be redesigned by year’s end to improve safety for cyclists and speed commutes for bus riders, Mayor de Blasio announced Tuesday.
Hizzoner said the city is on pace to install 30 new miles of protected bike lanes and five new “busways” — or streets where passenger car traffic is restricted — before he leaves office at the end of the year. If crews finish the work, it’ll mark the quickest expansion of bus and bike lanes during a calendar year in the city’s history.
“When we talk about recovery for all of us, it means everyone has to get around. It means we have to be safe,” de Blasio said during a news conference. “A recovery for all of us means thinking about our future, and New York City is doing everything we can to break our dependence on fossil fuels.”
The bike lane expansion includes the rollout of a new “bike boulevard” in each borough. Those areas — 21st St. in South
Slope, Brooklyn; University Place in Greenwich Village, 39th Ave. in Sunnyside, Queens, Jackson Ave. in the Bronx and Netherland Ave. on Staten Island — will connect to other major bike lanes, and will come with a slate of safety improvements to discourage car traffic and give cyclists more space, officials said.
The new busways will mirror one already in place along 14th St. in Manhattan, where passenger vehicle through-traffic is banned most of the day. The same treatment will be given to stretches of Fifth Ave. in
Manhattan, and Jamaica and Archer Aves. in Jamaica, Queens — adding to two other busways launched on 181st St. in Washington Heights and Main St. in Flushing, Queens, earlier this year.
Transportation Commissioner Hank Gutman said those new busways, along with 28 miles of other bus lane improvements coming this year, will speed up commutes for nearly 1 million straphangers.
“The more important metric is how many people’s lives are you improving,” said Gutman. “On the Main St. busway, the speeds are 29% faster in the evening rush hours.”
De Blasio rode a Citi Bike from Gracie Mansion to City Hall before announcing the new goals, a rare move for the car-loving mayor who before the pandemic was notorious for being chauffeured 13 miles each morning to the Park Slope YMCA to exercise.
De Blasio’s office claimed Tuesday marked the first time a mayor commuted from Gracie Mansion to City Hall by bike since 1970, when John Lindsay took a ride.
The mayor for most of his ride took the protected bike lane on Second Ave., one of the longest and busiest in the city. He acknowledged even that lane could use some improvements.
“That area around the [Queensboro] Bridge needs work, but it’s amazing,” said de Blasio. “That we have protected bike lanes is amazing.”
“What’s really beautiful is just experiencing the city this way,” he said. “It gives you another sense of why this place is so amazing.”