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Bicycle Infrastructure

Friday Video: A Vision for West 72nd Street

Maybe someday, a roadway that devotes 88 percent of its space to a tiny minority of users (drivers) could finally work for everyone. We can dream, can't we?

Photo: Streetfilms|

The imbalance is felt by everyone on the Upper West Side (except, perhaps, car drivers).

What do we want? Livable streets! Where do we want it? On the Upper West Side!

Our friends at Streetfilms are back this week with a very simple video showing the benefits of transforming West 72nd Street from a sclerotic, dangerous and inefficient car-centric street into a people-first boulevard that connects Central and Riverside parks.

The vision comes from Streetopia Upper West Side (full disclosure: a sister organization of Streetsblog) and includes the kind of core ideas that everyone should want for any badly designed New York City street. These include:

  • Limiting through-traffic to give priority to buses, which carry tens of thousands of people. 
  • Explicitly connecting the parks for cyclists with a world-class, high-comfort, all-ages-and-abilities cycle track.
  • Expanding sidewalks and shortening crossing distances at every intersection to invite pedestrians to stroll, shop and meet their neighbors in a low-streets environment.
  • Adding mid-block crosswalks on every block.
  • Repurposing the curb lane to serve multiple uses in proportion to needs.
  • Planting a lot of trees.

And then maybe someday soon, a roadway that devotes 88 percent of its space to a tiny minority of users (drivers) could finally work for everyone. Check it out:

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