DOT Improves Its ‘Park’ Avenue Plan With Separate Bike And Pedestrian Space In Widened Median

After further review … the city did better!

The Mamdani administration unveiled its plan for transforming the median of Park Avenue into a space for meandering pedestrians and for cyclists — and it’s bolder than the Department of Transportation’s original proposal from earlier this summer.

The new plan — which features the same widened pedestrian space in the middle of the fabled roadway, but adds a two-way protected bike lane in its own space adjacent to the median between 46th and 57th streets — came after two Midtown community boards told the administration to put more “park” into Park Avenue by giving cyclists and pedestrians their own space.

At the time, all DOT would say was that it would “review” the resolution. Well, the review is in and it’s close to spectacular.

Under the proposal, handed first to Gothamist, the center median — currently just flowers — will widen to create space for pedestrians to not only walk, but gather. In addition, one of the southbound car travel lanes will be converted into a two-way protected bike lane just outside that planted median.

“The redesign responds to feedback from New Yorkers by moving the originally proposed two-way bike lane alongside the median into dedicated space while preserving expanded pedestrian areas,” the administration said in its statement acknowledging the community board input.

“New Yorkers asked us to make more room for people to walk, bike and enjoy their city, and we listened,” Mayor Mamdani said in a statement. “This updated design puts more space where it belongs: in the hands of New Yorkers. … We are making Park Avenue safer and more beautiful for everyone who uses it.”

Sandra McKee, the chair of Manhattan CB6, added that her board was “pleased to see” that DOT’s updated designs “respond to feedback from our resolution and better balance pedestrian space, greenery and dedicated bicycle infrastructure.”

For the record, here was the original design options presented earlier this year:

One tiny disappointment should be allowed to creep into DOT’s plan: It is not as bold as one put forward by Queens street safety activist Alex Duncan, known to Reddit users as Miser. In May, shortly before the community boards voted, Duncan put forth images that showed a similarly widened median as the DOT’s final plan, but also closed many crosstown intersections to car traffic, making the bike and pedestrian space seamless from block to block:

On Thursday, Duncan called the Park Avenue plan “a small win” for “clawing back a little more space from cars.” But he wasn’t happy.

“In true New York City fashion, [it] falls short of what should be done …specifically prioritizing micromobility over cars,” he added. “It should take another lane from cars on the other side for an additional bike lane, making two full-width lanes. The plan also desperately needs to close some cross streets to cars … otherwise people won’t even be able to use the median park or the bike lanes because cars will stack up between them as they do now every block.”

Samir Lavingia, who is a vice-chair of CB5, said he was generally supportive of a project “that proves DOT doesn’t have to choose between safe spaces for bikes and pedestrians” and was “thrilled” to see his community board’s feedback incorporated into the final design, but he shared Duncan’s concern about the cross streets.

“Leaving the cross streets open will remain a missed opportunity,” said Lavingia, who stressed that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as a member of the board leadership. “We shouldn’t settle for just restoring Park Avenue to what it was a century ago and we should be building a truly connected, visionary linear park for the future.”

Streetsblog asked DOT on Thursday about possible conflicts between cyclists and southbound drivers turning left off Park, and the agency said that it will install dedicated left-turn signal phases to accommodate pedestrian and cyclist movements along the median.