New bike lanes include major additions to 1,200-mile bicycle network; As 2018 ends with record-low cyclist fatalities, protected bike lanes have helped make streets safer for all users
Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that DOT had this year constructed over 20 miles of new on-street protected bike lanes along some of New York City’s major streets. The additional lanes have expanded the city’s bike network, the nation’s largest, to 1,217 miles, of which 119.5 miles are on-street protected lanes. 83 miles of these protected lanes have been added since 2014 (see chart at the end of release). DOT has continued its high productivity under Vision Zero, with this year’s 20.9 miles a record second only to last year’s 25 miles -- that includes major projects in all five boroughs, among them midtown Manhattan’s first-ever crosstown protected lanes as well as new lanes along: Broadway in the northern Bronx; Skillman/43rd Avenues in Sunnyside, Queens; 9th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn; and on Park Row connecting Chinatown and Lower Manhattan. As part of City Hall in Your Borough, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg was joined by transportation advocates and elected officials in Midtown for a bike ride along the new 26th Street crosstown protected bike lane, where she also cited a dramatic decline in cyclist fatalities during 2018.
“Our Vision Zero work never stops, as we have continued adding protected bike lanes at a steady pace across the city,” said Mayor de Blasio. “This work saves lives. With more New Yorkers than ever using a bicycle to get around, we are expanding our bike lane network to make biking more safe, convenient, and comfortable.”
“I want to thank DOT’s planners, designers and construction crews, as well as our Borough Commissioners and their teams, for another great year of new protected bike lanes,” said DOT Commissioner Trottenberg. “From the north Bronx to Long Island City, and from Park Slope to here in Manhattan, where we installed four new crosstown protected lanes, our bike projects this year included important safety-focused projects and key network connections to make cycling in New York even easier and more enjoyable. And while our Vision Zero work is far from complete, as we near the end of the year, we are grateful for the decline in cyclist fatalities we have seen this year.”
New protected lanes: Much of DOT’s protected bike lane production in 2018 focused on preparations for the L train tunnel shutdown that begins next April. According to DOT estimates, 2-3 percent of the 275,000 displaced L riders will turn to cycling, which will more than double current cycling volumes – especially on routes in lower Manhattan nearest the Williamsburg Bridge.
This year’s new protected bike lanes are listed below. Projects that are expected to be used most heavily by displaced L train riders are marked by *:
Manhattan
Park Row (Frankfort Street to Chatham Square)* 0.5 miles
Delancey Street (Clinton St to Allen St)* 0.5
12th St/13th St (Ave C to 8th Ave)*
East 20th Street (Ave C to First Ave)*
26th St/ 29th Street (1st Ave to 12th Ave)* 2.8
7th Ave South (Clarkson St to 11 St)
2nd Ave (68th St to 74th St)
Brooklyn
Grand Street (Bushwick Ave to Union Ave)* 1.8
Morgan Ave. Knickerbocker Ave, Grattan St* 0.3
4th Ave (60th – 64th Street)
43rd & 44th Sts./57th & 58th Sts.
9th Street (3rd Ave to Prospect Park West) 1.8
Bronx
Broadway (West 242nd Street
to Westchester Co line, along Van Cortlandt Park) 2.4
Queens
73 Ave/233 Street
(Alley Pond Park to Horace Harding Expw) 1.8
43rd Ave/ Skillman Ave
(Queens Blvd Br. to Roosevelt Ave) 2.6
Jewel Avenue
Staten Island
Staten Island Ferry Ramps
Cyclist Fatalities at Record Lows: DOT announced that in 2018 cyclist fatalities had declined to a single-year record low: 10 cyclist deaths so far this year compared to 24 last year, and an annual average of 19 since Vision Zero began in 2014. The previous annual low for cyclist fatalities was 12, during both 2009 and 2013.
According to a DOT report released last year, Safer Cycling, an increase in cycling volumes and greater cycling infrastructure are direct correlated to fewer crashes and injuries for all street users: cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
“Protected bike lanes are good policy because they are lifesaving policy, and I am proud to support their construction here in my district and all over the city,” said Council Speaker Corey Johnson. “We should be proud of the bike lanes we’ve built this year, from here in Chelsea to Skillman Avenue in Queens and everywhere in between, but we can always do more. I thank the Department of Transportation for its commitment to Vision Zero and I look forward to continuing our work together to help New Yorkers get around our city safely and efficiently.”
About Vision Zero
Vision Zero is the de Blasio administration’s initiative to use every tool at its disposal to reduce traffic deaths and injuries on New York City streets. In 2017, New York City experienced its safest year on record with the fourth straight year of fatality declines. Since the program’s inaugural year in 2014, when New York City became the first American city to adopt Vision Zero through 2017, the city’s traffic fatalities have declined 26 percent with a 42 percent decline in pedestrian fatalities — bucking national fatality trends, which have increased 13 percent over the same period.
For more information about the Vision Zero initiative, please see www.nyc.gov/visionzero.
