New York still has a lot of work to do to create an all-ages, low-stress citywide bike network, but let's pause for a moment to appreciate how far the city has come.
Before he made Streetfilms, Clarence Eckerson Jr. made BikeTV, a cable access show. In this BikeTV clip that Clarence recently unearthed, you'll get a tour of the bike network in northwest Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan in the winter of 2002:
Contrary to popular belief, New York did have bike lanes 15 years ago, but the network was sparse and the city clearly didn't place a high priority on maintaining it. Five more years would pass before Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan arrived on the scene and put in the city's first protected bike lane.
Here are some before-and-after comparisons of the streets shown in the video.
Broadway:
Sixth Avenue:
Lafayette:
Of course, some problems haven't gone away:
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