Madison Square: Before and After.
Take a moment to appreciate how far we've come in the last few years. New York City is being honored tonight in Washington D.C. as the first U.S. city to win the ITDP Sustainable Transport Award. Here is an excerpt from the press release:
New York City has demonstrated that political will, boldleadership and citizen engagement can lead to sweeping transportationreforms. In 2008, the city implemented key parts of Mayor Michael Bloomberg'slong-term sustainability vision, PlaNYC 2030. The laudable changes madethroughout 2008 have reshaped the experience of walking on New York Citystreets. The city has embraced biking and walking as investment-worthytransportation alternatives, while the traditional car-orientedmobility model is taking a back-seat....
In 2008, New York City took 49 acres of road space, traffic lanes andparking spots away from cars and gave it back to the public for bikelanes, pedestrian areas and public plazas. Protected on-street bikelanes were part of the 140 miles (255 kilometers) of bike lanesimplemented. Bike ridership increased by 35 percent from the past year.The city planted more than 98,000 trees, implemented a select busservice and introduced car-free Saturdays. The NYC Department ofTransportation recycles 40 percent of the asphalt used to repairstreets.
