City Council passes $1.7B plan to ‘revolutionize’ NYC streets
The bill calls for 250 miles of protected bike lanes over the next five years. | Christian Thuesen/Getty Images
The bill aims to improve how New Yorkers bike, bus, and move through the city
The City Council passed a $1.7 billion plan that will drastically expand protected bike lanes as part of a sweeping effort to overhaul the city’s streetscape.
The plan, spearheaded by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and recently backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, passed the Council 35 to 10 and follows a sharp spike in cyclist deaths this year—25 so far, a two-decade peak, and more than double the 10 recorded in 2018.
The legislation seeks to overhaul how New Yorkers bike, bus, and walk through the five boroughs by requiring the city to build 250 miles of protected bike lanes and 150 miles of dedicated bus lanes over a five-year period. It also calls for one million square feet of new pedestrian space within the first two years, along with new signaling technology and accessibility upgrades throughout the city.
“We have lost too many people in our city this year, last year, the year before … because of traffic violence and because our streets have not been planned properly for all people that need to use them,” Johnson said during Wednesday’s Council vote. “We need safer streets.”
Johnson says the plan strives for a departure in the city’s current “piecemeal” approach to designing streets and instead calls for a comprehensive reimagining of how roads can best serve all New Yorkers navigating them. Under the bill, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) is required to release a plan every five years to make street safety improvements and to prioritize public transit. The city must also hit annual targets, conduct public education on the effort, and issue a report on any changes to the plan each February.
The effort is expected to unfold over the next decade. The first master plan is due December 2021, with the second slated for 2026. The latter is set to complete the city’s bike lane network—something transportation advocates have long demanded.
“New York City is sending a message to its residents that it values their lives more than endless traffic,” said Joe Cutrufo with Transportation Alternatives.
The plan, Johnson said Wednesday, calls for “a total reshaping” of DOT and will require the agency to build new facilities, hire additional staff, and make the bill a reality by “expanding their current bandwidth.”
The bill was co-sponsored by 25 Council members and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Lawmakers in support of the ambitious plan emphasized that the effort is not a push toward eliminating cars from the city, but instead is a shift away from car-centric design with safety improvements geared toward improving quality of life and safety on city streets for all.
“Breaking car culture is not about getting rid of cars, it’s about understanding the privilege that it is to have a car and understanding the responsibility of a vehicle that can kill someone,” said Brooklyn Councilmember Antonio Reynoso.
But far from everyone is on board with the legislation, and several city lawmakers groused Wednesday about how the bill lacks community engagement for the changes that are coming to New Yorkers’ neighborhoods.
“The only thing that disappoints me about this particular bill is the lack of a formal process for a meaningful and real community engagement,” said Queens Councilmember Eric Ulrich, who represents the district where the most recent cyclist death occurred; a 56-year-old man was mowed down by a speeding driver behind the wheel of a SUV in Broad Channel. “We need to involve all the stakeholders in the community when we are doing community planning.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio had not openly endorsed the bill until Monday, when it was unveiled that the first of the two master plans won’t be due until December 2021—a month before de Blasio leaves office.
“Congratulations to the Council on passage of this legislation, which will continue the City’s progress on Vision Zero, helping to make New York City’s streets even safer in the years and decades to come,” de Blasio said in a statement late Wednesday.
The de Blasio administration has completed 100 miles of protected bike lane since 2014, and in August the mayor unveiled a $58.4 million “Green Wave” plan that seeks to build safe cycling infrastructure and promote biking, but the master streets plan takes the effort further with a more aggressive push toward making streets friendly to pedestrians and public transit.
“I’m proud of this bill,” said Johnson. “I think it’s going to really revolutionize the streets of New York City and it’s going to change the future of New York for decades and decades to come.”
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