Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bicycling

A Ride Down NYC’s “Street of the Future”



For years, Livable Streets advocates have pleaded with New York City's Department of Transportation to just try new things. Do street design experiments using temporary materials. Give new ideas a shot. If an experiment doesn't work, take it down, redesign it, improve it or, heck, just restore it to how it used to be. What do we have to lose? If we don't start figuring out new ways to design and manage New York City's streets, all we're left with is a future of ever-increasing gridlock, pollution and honking.

Finally, under the administration of new DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, innovation is happening on New York City's streets. And it is happening fast.

Yesterday, StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson was down on Ninth Avenue in Chelsea when he stumbled across DOT's new cycle track -- the first significant length of physically-separated bike path ever installed in New York City's urban core. Though the project was announced just weeks ago, the city has already built a quick-and-dirty version using inexpensive temporary materials.

Amazing. I guess we can check this off of the Livable Streets movement's 2007 New Year's resolution list.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Albany Running Out of Options to Close MTA Funding Gap: Watchdog

Tighten the belt and give up the frills, the Citizens Budget Commission warned.

March 21, 2025

Advocates Demand New Jersey Agencies Cough Up Congestion Pricing Data

NJT and the Port Authority need to cough up some actually useful post-congestion pricing travel data, advocates on both sides of the Hudson River said.

March 21, 2025

Friday’s Headlines: Fake Deadline Extended Edition

It's the first day of spring and, if you're U.S. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, it was supposed to be the last day of congestion pricing. But it's not. Plus other news.

March 21, 2025

‘Disaster’: Outdoor Dining Snafu Could Ban Alfresco Booze For Months

It's shaping up to be a sober outdoor dining spring.

March 20, 2025

Congestion Pricing’s Big Winner? Bus Riders

Buses move faster in and around New York City ever since congestion pricing kicked in — spurring MTA officials to tweak some route schedules.

March 20, 2025
See all posts