Rendering of the new causeway design of City Island Bridge. Image credit: DOT.

New causeway design for City Island Bridge applauded by community and local elected officials. On May 21, 2014, the City Planning Commission unanimously approved an application by the New York City Department of Transportation and Department of Parks and Recreation for a city map amendment to facilitate the construction of a new City Island Bridge in the Bronx. City Island Bridge, which connects City Island to Rodman’s Neck, was built in 1901 and was determined in 2002 to be in a state of serious deterioration.  The new bridge would be located in the same footprint as the existing bridge, but will now be approximately 68 feet wide, 17 feet wider than the existing bridge. The wider bridge would allow three standard-width traffic lanes and two 6-foot wide bicycle lanes with two 7-foot wide pedestrian walkways, one on each side of the bridge. (more…)

Citi Bikes at a Citi Bike Docking Station./Image Credit: CityLand

This plan includes free bikes and Citi Bike memberships and building one and a half miles of protected bike lanes around 50 New York City high schools in the next year. On September 3, 2020, New York City Comptroller Scott Singer proposed a bike-to-school plan as a sustainable, safe, and healthy transportation option for the city’s young people returning to school this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. (more…)

Commissioner Polly Trottenberg speaks at the 167th CityLaw Breakfast. Image Credit: CityLand

On July 30, 2020, NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg spoke at the 167th CityLaw Breakfast. Professor Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law gave opening remarks and Dean Anthony W. Crowell gave closing remarks. This Breakfast was sponsored by ConEdison, Greenberg Traurig, and Verizon. Commissioner Trottenberg spoke on “NYCDOT & COVID-19: Response Challenges, Recovery Opportunities.” As in-person events are not feasible at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first virtual CityLaw Breakfast in the Center’s history. (more…)

Ross Sandler

The Bloomberg administration will be remembered for, among other initiatives, a major reallocation of public street space for new and innovative uses. Cars and trucks have been joined by a host of new users, most recently by the long anticipated bike share program. Citibike is a worthy experiment.

The City’s Department of Transportation chased vehicular traffic from portions of Times Square, Herald Square and Madison Square and rededicated the space to movable chairs, tables and planters. Formerly clogged streets now serve as parks for sitters, walkers, lunch time breaks and urban star gazing. Along First Avenue, Second Avenue and other thoroughfares, DOT has seized entire lanes and pushed the parking lane away from the curb and out into the street. It then dedicated the former parking lanes to bicycles. These two shifts – pavement parks and protected bike lanes – constitute the largest shift of street space away from motorized vehicles since New York City started paving streets with asphalt.

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Has bicycle riding become safer in New York City? On July 28, 2011 the New York City Department of Transportation answered “Yes” by presenting statistics that showed that bike riding was 72 percent safer in 2010 than it was 2001. How good are DOT’s statistics?

Despite significant efforts, the absolute number of bicyclist fatalities and severe injuries has hardly moved. In 2000 there were 18 fatalities and 351 severe injuries. In 2010 there was no change: 19 fatalities and 361 severe injuries. During the year 2010 New York City experienced the decade’s second highest total of fatalities and severe injuries. And there was a worse statistic for bike advocates; while there were only 12 fatalities in 2009, fatalities jumped to 19 in 2010.  (more…)