Jason Varone

In the shortest, sweetest Streetfilm ever, a 24-second stop-motion animation, Elizabeth Press perfectly illustrates a chicane which is a sequence of bump-outs that force drivers to slow down and drive a more circuitous route along a straight, wide street. An added side benefit, chicanes also create more sidewalk space to be used for benches, tables, plantings and street furniture.

Streetsblog tipster Colin Poellot sent in this photo and reports that the NYPD was cracking down on cars in the new Broadway bus lane south of Houston Street on Monday. Poellot says there were three to five officers waving over and ticketing drivers over the course of several hours.

The New York Times doesn't seem to have noticed, but DOT has been quietly rolling out dozens of bike boxes all over the city. As many cyclists don't seem to know exactly what bike boxes are or how to use them yet, StreetFilms thought the time was right for this instructional video.

Gothamist caught up with Ted Kheel, the 93 year old head of the Nurture New York's Nature Foundation, which addresses the "fundamental conflict between development and the environment." Kheel will release the findings of his study "The Kheel Plan for Balancing Free Transit and Congestion Pricing in New York City" later this month:

Item #1 is a presentation from DOT on the reconfiguration of Washington and Greenwich Sts. in the West Village. The proposal reduces the number of travel lanes on both streets to one (which has already been marked, though without a formal CB review) and creates bicycle lanes on both streets. Parking rules would be adjusted to create "daylighted" intersections, removing spaces so that crosswalks are more visible, and other rules changed to increase the amount of daytime parking.

 Nick Whitaker's latest effort for StreetFilms is about the Street Memorial Project, a joint effort from Visual Resistance, Transportation Alternatives, and Time's Up! which was established to honor pedestrians killed on NYC streets. The project is an outgrowth of the Ghost Bike movement. A plaque is usually placed at the site indicating the date of the fatality, manner of death, and age of the victim.

Barack Obama is a long-time cyclist (Photo: Chicago Tribune)

2008 quickly bring good news for commuters in Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens. Eric Chang of Transportation Alternatives' Queens Committee snapped these photos of the new covered bike shelter that was just installed at the Vernon Blvd /Jackson Avenue station on the 7 line in Long Island City.  The third photo is from Fort Greene where Gil Ronen (pictured) along with T.A. and Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill were instrumental in bringing over 70 new CityRacks to the historic Brooklyn neighborhood.

A week after two cyclists were killed in midtown, NY1 wants to know, in its very limited multiple choice format, what needs to be done to make New York City safer for cyclists. Your options are:

Roberts Says Subway Lines to Operate as Individual Railroads (NYT) Cyclist in “Freak Mishap” Identified as David Smith (News, NYT, Post, Sun) Unlike Neighbors, Some Businesses Welcome Parking Meters (R’dale Press) Letter: Selfish, Double-Parking Parents Deserve Tickets (R’dale Press) Drivers in a Fit Over Verrazano Congestion (Bklyn Eagle) Few Transportation Options for Aging Americans (USA … Continued