With a new street surface and some well-placed planters, granite slabs, and markings, DOT turned the block of Broadway between 24th and 25th streets into a pedestrian priority "shared space," roughly doubling the size of contiguous public space at Flatiron Plaza. Motor vehicle access is allowed, but it's clear that people behind the wheel have to slow down and yield to people on foot.
DOT's venture into shared space proves the concept can work well in NYC. The narrow canyons of the Financial District, crowded Midtown streets, and residential blocks should all be candidates for similar treatment going forward.
After a year out of the top spot in this category, the Queens Boulevard bike lane is back. Which stands to reason, because each new bike lane segment on the most important street in Queens makes the previous segments more useful. This year's phase of the Queens Boulevard project extended the redesign east to Rego Park, and there are now nearly four miles of safe bikeways connecting the neighborhoods of central and western Queens. This corridor figures to be a contender in 2018 too, with upgraded connections to the Queensboro Bridge and an eastward extension to Union Turnpike in the works.
Best Bus Project
All-door boarding at Rockaway Boulevard. Photo: David MeyerAll-door boarding at Rockaway Boulevard. Photo: David Meyer
You can count on Streetsblog readers to vote for the bus project that helps the greatest number of riders, and this year was no exception. But not only does Woodhaven Boulevard Select Bus Service speed up trips for 30,000 passengers each day (a few thousand more than the runner-up, Bx6 SBS), the project also made one of the widest, deadliest streets in the city safer for walking. Bigger pedestrian medians and simpler vehicle turning patterns complement the bus lanes and faster boarding. Thanks to this project, one of New York's nastiest car sewers works a lot better for people who walk and ride the bus.
Bonus points to DOT for seeing the project through despite a vocal contingent of NIMBYs, including State Senator Joe Addabbo, bent on propping up unfettered motoring to the greatest extent possible. The city will need more of that assertiveness to deliver the full package of transit upgrades slated for Woodhaven Boulevard, which the Department of Design and Construction will get to sometime in the 2020s.
Best Addition to the DOT Toolkit
DOT's first offset crossing on Columbus and West 70th Street.
DOT's new semi-protected intersection design promises deliverance from the stress of "mixing zones," which have become the bane of New York's protected bike lane network. Unlike the mixing zone design, which appears to make turning motorists feel entitled to bully their way through the path of passing cyclists, the new intersection template engenders slower, safer, more courteous turns.
It's always good to see DOT refine its bikeway design toolkit, in this case prompted by Reed Rubey, Willow Stelzer, and other volunteers with TransAlt. So far DOT has piloted the semi-protected intersection in small batches, but the sooner a large number of intersections get converted to the new design, the better.
Most Intensively Used Square Footage
Main Street in Flushing is a major transit hub, a downtown commercial center, and the most crowded pedestrian environment in New York except for Times Square. With the addition of wider concrete sidewalks, four busy blocks of Main Street went from dangerously overcrowded to intensely bustling.
Best New Advocacy Tactic
There's a reason people-protected bike lanes are sweeping the nation. Yes, they get people's attention. But they also happen to be a lot of fun. It's a safety demonstration, a show of solidarity, and a street party rolled into one.
The classic Streetfilm format shows a city that already has something to brag about -- a safe all-ages bike network, a high-capacity surface transit system, a downtown full of car-free streets. This year the people's choice for top Streetfilm was different. Transform Your Streets With Tactical Urbanism shows cities that are still figuring out how to shift away from the automobile, with all the political and bureaucratic hesitation that entails. "Tactical urbanism" cracks open the process of change and prods cities to act, as Clarence captures so well:
Winner: The Prospect Park loop will be off-limits to private car traffic all day, every day starting January 2 (but really, the morning of Friday, December 29, will be the last time traffic shortcuts are allowed). It's the culmination of several advocacy campaigns spanning multiple generations. Soak it in -- conclusive wins like this don't come along every year.
Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and Borough President Eric Adams lead the celebratory bike ride through the soon-to-be permanently car-free Prospect Park. Photo: David MeyerTransportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and Borough President Eric Adams lead the celebratory bike ride through the soon-to-be permanently car-free Prospect Park. Photo: David Meyer
Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
The governor, the head of the MTA and the city's leading transit thinkers all celebrated congestion pricing on Tuesday as an historic moment while Mayor Adams spent Tuesday failing to live up to it.
City environmental protection officials are now refusing to punish owners of commercial vehicles for idling if the trucks don't have license plates — a move that has enraged citizen enforcers.