Streetsblog New York City

On Tuesday the Bloomberg administration announced record low traffic deaths from 2000 to 2007, and claimed, if not in so many words, that city streets are safer than ever. But the numbers, included on a chart that accompanied this media release, also indicated that 23 cyclists died in 2007. That would make last year -- according to the data released Tuesday, at least -- the deadliest for riders in the eight year period shown.

But are those figures accurate? And in the context of the growing number of people cycling throughout the city, what do they mean?

According to a 2006 joint report from DOT, NYPD and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (40-page pdf), 24 cyclists were killed in 2005, and 23 were killed in 2002. That doesn't match the figures released this week. And while it could be easy to assume that that only means the streets are even more dangerous than portrayed, such variations in the raw numbers don't necessarily mean much in terms of safety.

"The sample size is so small and standard deviation so little that T.A. has never found deaths to be an adequate indicator of safety trends," says Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives. "That's why we requested the city's 2006 report look at injuries too."

Comparing fatal crashes with daily ridership, Budnick says that the crash rate -- the number of deaths per cyclist -- shows a decline since 1985, which is as far back as T.A. has complete data sets for both ridership and fatalities.

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It looks like the street redesign around the Manhattan entrance of the Manhattan Bridge is nearing completion. Considering that Transportation Alternatives has been pushing for these fixes for years, that was pretty fast. DOT presented its plan to the local Community Board, to unanimous approval, in July; sketched out the lines on the street in August; and here we are.

With the Manhattan side of the bridge squared away, attention now turns to the utterly pathetic state of bike access on the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge. Former DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall unveiled plans for the creation of a Sands Street bike ramp on June 14, 2005, shortly after T.A. Deputy Director Noah Budnick's life-threatening bike crash down there. Two and a half years later the Sands Street project is nowhere. Apparently, the Department of Design and Construction has completely dropped the ball on this one.

Thanks to Streetsblog reader Dave "Paco" Abraham for sending in these photos. You can find more detailed DOT plans for the Manhattan Bridge and other "complete streets" projects around the city here.

If you haven't heard it already, WNYC's Arun Venugopal has an outstanding piece on New York City's rapidly changing transportation policies regarding bicycling. We hear from T.A.'s Noah Budnick, Copenhagen's Jan Gehl, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, NYPD Chief Ray Kelly, Judy Ross of Times Up, and a moron in a huge SUV. Click here or press the play button below:

REPORTER: Jan Gehl is an urban designer, also from Copenhagen, who advises the city's Department of Transportation. Like his friend and mentor, the late Jane Jacobs, Gehl speaks of the 'humanization' of the city's streets, which he thinks have become 'infested' by cars. But Gehl thinks Manhattan, given its density and flatness, is perfectly positioned for a wide-scale conversion.

GEHL: It would be a piece of cake to have a really high class bicycle system which could take care of half of the commuting in Manhattan.

REPORTER: Gehl thinks that the political pressures arising from gas prices and the green movement will force the city to adopt bicycling fast. He says real change may be visible here within 5 years, and that the city could be profoundly altered in about 10 years. As more people take to riding bikes, it becomes safer, which in turn encourages more people to ride. Gehl sees major economic benefits as well, as people tend to linger more - in public plazas, or stores or sidewalk cafes - when air and noise pollution go down.

GEHL: In Europe increasingly we are trying to make the cities so that they are wonderful places, where you like to go out and sit and have meals and watch your fellow citizens, talk with them in spaces which are not completely filled with noise. Something about being a public citizens who enjoys his city.

... 

As we ride along 8th avenue, we're forced into the car lane because of all the double-parking law-breakers.

At one point, a man in a huge SUV pulls up next to us and honks his horn. The driver rolls down his window, and he shouts, 'There's only one bike lane, bro!'

Noah ignores him, then watches as the guy runs a red light. And he's at peace.

BUDNICK: the next thing, he's stuck in gridlock, and you're 10 blocks ahead of him five minutes later. Brings a smile.

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.

DOT's plan also includes traffic signals for bicyclists, greenery-filled refuge areas for pedestrians, a new curbside parking plan, and signalized left-turn lanes for motor vehicles. "The left turn lane will be immediately adjacent to the bike lane," DOT Bicycle Program Director Josh Benson explained to CB4 members. "As a cyclist you’ll know that if there’s a car next to you, that car is turning left." Likewise, left-turning drivers' view of cyclists will be completely unobscured. The bike lane is 10-feet wide to accommodate street cleaning and emergency vehicles.

DOT planners consulted with Danish urban designer Jan Gehl on the plan, according to Transportation Alternatives Deputy Director Noah Budnick. "They are drawing from international best-practice and being smart about talking to other engineers and planners who have implemented these types of designs," Budnick said. "They really thought holistically about everything that is going on on the street."

These types of physically-separated on-street bike lanes, increasingly referred to as "cycle tracks," are commonly found in bike-friendly cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Livable Streets advocates have long pushed DOT to experiment with this type of bike lane design in New York City. After Benson's presentation, Community Board 4's transportation committee voted to approve the DOT plan which is part of a larger pedestrian safety and public space initiative around the intersection of 9th Avenue and 14th Street.

The new bike lane design is a break from previously stated DOT policy. In March, during discussion of a possible Houston Street bike lane, DOT officials told Manhattan's Community 2 that physically-separated bike lanes should only be installed on streets with a maximum of 8 intersections per mile to ensure fewer conflicts with turning vehicles.

A copy of the presentation DOT made at last night's Community Board meeting can be found here.

Yesterday was the first day of a car-free evening rush hour on Prospect Park's East Drive. Car-Free Park advocates and Transportation Alternatives members manned the barricades at the Park Circle entrance, reminiscing over more than a dozen years of activism and organizing. That's StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson holding the "Thank you DOT" sign above. Below, T.A.'s Noah Budnick recommends Flatbush Avenue to the driver of a Lexus SUV.

Photos: Aaron Naparstek

Transportation Alternatives' Noah Budnick and David Byrne prior to the Manhattan Borough President's "Manhattan on the Move" conference, October 2006.

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne writes about his 30 years of cycling in New York City on his website.  Byrne is an avid bicyclist, and an alternative transportation advocate:

I have been riding a bicycle in New York City for almost 30 years! For transport, not for sport. At first there were only a few of us. Loners, losers, maniacs and nerds. Some of the members of Talking Heads used to make fun of me and say I was going to turn into Pee Wee Herman.

Over the decades things have improved in New York for cyclists — a little. Now there is a wonderful bike path up the Hudson that runs almost the entire length of Manhattan. I use it to commute to and from work. Now there are markings on some streets indicating imaginary bike lanes (imaginary because the traffic and pedestrians often ignore the markings) but they are there in spirit, at least. Someday they will be taken seriously, I have no doubt — when gas hits $10 a gallon.

Now Paris is embarking on a bicycle plan that should make New York envious. A collaboration between business and civic affairs than may just work, as both the city and Deceaux can benefit. Bikes as a means of local transport has worked elsewhere; the mayor of Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa, relieved traffic congestion AND made his city more livable by converting streets to bike/pedestrian use and by adding dedicated bus lanes. Of bike lanes he said, “If an eight year old kid can’t ride on it safely then it isn’t a bike lane.” I don’t remember Paris having very many bike lanes, and the drivers adopt a “survival of the pushiest” approach, as I recall, but that may be changing.

The CB2 Traffic & Transportation Committee met at the LGBT Center on Tuesday. 

A crowded and often contentious Tuesday night meeting yielded a compromise on proposed bike lanes through Lower Manhattan, one some fear could come at a cost.

The Traffic & Transportation Committee of Community Board 2 voted 8-1 to recommend the DOT add bike lanes on routes parallel to Houston Street, mostly on Prince and Bleecker. The motion as passed defines the new routes as "additional interim" lanes, rather than "alternate" lanes, as committee members voted to "affirm support" for the DOT to eventually make Houston Street itself safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The motion also opposes construction of left-turn bays on Houston.

The hopeful language and intent of the committee's motion are cold comfort to those who say cyclists will -- and should -- continue to use Houston, as it offers a fast, convenient and direct river-to-river route.

"All of you stood on Houston Street and promised a safe street for cyclists," said a Time's Up! volunteer, a city employee who asked that her name not be printed. "Cyclists and pedestrians are going to die on Houston Street because you accept DOT's plan."

Some spoke against the proposal not for the sake of cyclist or pedestrian safety, but because they don't want to attract bike traffic to their streets, or don't want to lose the 186 parking spots the Prince/Bleecker plan calls for removing.

David Gruber of the Carmine Street Block Association said "funneling" cyclists through narrower neighborhood streets would be "a real mistake."

"People have cars to park," Gruber said. "We're overloaded with cars with just nowhere to go."

Village resident Wendy Dembo had an answer for that.

"This isn't about free parking," Dembo said. "This is about commuting, biking and living in New York car-free."

For that reason, to many who want to see Houston Street brought under control, the DOT plan is a gift nonetheless. Supporters of the proposal, including Transportation Alternatives, believe an all-or-nothing campaign to tame Houston Street would be doomed as long as Michael Bloomberg remains mayor. They also cite the planned removal of on-street parking, and say that developing the Prince/Bleecker corridors will draw more cyclists to take to the streets, ideally leading to more pressure on DOT to finally calm Houston once the political climate becomes more favorable.

"With DOT you never get what you want at first, but you never give up," said TA Deputy Director of Advocacy Noah Budnick. "This isn't the end of Houston Street."

Though none of them bemoaned the potential loss of parking, debate among committee members echoed much of the public comment, and included criticisms of "bogus" DOT studies and a call to physically block Houston Street "if that's what it takes." After about a half-hour of heated discussion, the vote was cast.

The committee recommendation now moves to the full board.

Photo: Brad Aaron 

Brooklyn Community Board 6's transportation committee will hear presentations and community input on the following items: 

• Presentation and discussion of a proposal by the Department of Transportation for improvements designed to enhance pedestrian mobility, access and comfort at the Grand Army Plaza.
• Presentation by the Department of Transportation of a plan to install two-way Class II bicycle lanes and roadway markings for left-turn turning lanes along 9th Street between 3rd Avenue and Prospect Park West.
• Presentation by the Department of Transportation of a plan to install Class III bicycle routes in Red Hook.
• Discussion and consideration of the Department of Transportation's investigation into the installation of a speed hump on Columbia Street between Halleck Street and the Gowanus Bay.

As is always the case with bike lane projects -- and maybe more so in this case -- there will be community opposition to this plan. Noah Budnick from Transportation Alternatives urges advocates to attend and express their support.

Did people have a chance to listen to Brian Lehrer's interview with DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall and Transportation Alternatives' Noah Budnick yesterday morning? If so, what did you think?

Listen to the show right here.

Trouble on Two Wheels

Noah Budnick, programs director of transportation alternatives -- on alternative means of transport in New York

and

Iris Weinshall, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner -- on the city's effort to make biking in New York safe Tune in right now