NYC Stim Projects Help Fund Big Bike-Ped Improvements

Brooklyn Bridge upkeep grabbed headlines this morning, but wait til you see what's happening on Houston Street.

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the list of city transportation projects set to receive an injection of federal stimulus cash. Budget-wise, the big ticket items are mostly bridge repair projects, but channeling those stim bucks toward necessary maintenance also frees up a lot of money for other things, including a sizable slate of pedestrian and bicycle improvements. In New York, at least, there are plenty of "shovel-ready" projects to get excited about.

Here are some highlights from each borough:

Manhattan

Wider sidewalks, bigger medians and -- just like the Soho Alliance always wanted -- bicycle lanes on Houston Street from Second Ave to the FDR Drive. This street reconstruction will also result in the creation of two new plaza areas. It goes out to bid this summer and is slated to wrap up in 2011. We have a request in to DOT to find out if the bike lanes will be physically protected.

Wider sidewalks and bike lanes on West 125th Street. The project includes the creation of a transit hub at 12th Avenue. Goes out to bid next spring and scheduled for completion in 2014.

The Bronx

A basket of improvements in Hunts Point and Port Morris will include "a greenway to help improve air quality, encourage recreation and reduce pollution in an area plagued with high asthma and obesity rates." The project is receiving stimulus funds directly and will go out to bid this spring, scheduled for completion in 2012.

Brooklyn

As part of upgrades to Flatbush Avenue
from Tillary Street to Hanson Place, the city will construct "an elevated landscaped median in
the street, and new pedestrian crosswalk refuges at medians." Slated to be finished in June, 2011.

New sidewalks featuring "specially designed, tinted concrete" on Fulton Street and Nostrand Avenue in the commercial heart of Bed Stuy, targeted to debut in winter 2011.

Queens

A project at Queens Plaza in Long Island City will "rationalize the traffic network, enhance the pedestrian environment, improve streetscape elements and create a public plaza." Scheduled for completion in spring 2011.

Staten Island

Not much in the way of pedestrian or bike improvements over in Richmond, but the renovation of the St. George Ferry Terminal will wrap up this fall with the addition of 20,000 square feet of retail space.

We have queries into DOT for renderings and more details on some of these items. Check out the city's press release for a complete list of local transportation projects the stimulus will help to fund.