Noah Kazis

In today's headline stack, we noted that, according to the Daily News, the Department of Transportation is getting started on installing badly needed safety improvements along Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. The road diet is long overdue on the avenue, where nighttime speeds average 50 miles per hour and three pedestrians have been killed so far this year. Though the plan has the support of some of the neighborhood's most important community organizations, such as the Abyssinian Development Corporation, some community board members and neighborhood activists remain opposed.

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Wondering how the MTA could afford to restore service on 24 bus lines and postpone next year's fare hikes? New budget documents show where the transit system's revenues and costs beat expectations, leaving the small and fragile surplus. The biggest savings came from cheap energy. Revenues from riders were up, but the important yet volatile real estate transaction tax came in under expectations.

When it comes to building a new Tappan Zee Bridge for drivers, the Cuomo administration says there's no time to waste and only a gold-plated, super-wide span will do. But don't ask them how they plan to pay for it, or how high tolls will be.

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Across the city, New Yorkers are still demanding their transit back. A dozen elected officials joined the Transport Workers Union on the steps of City Hall this afternoon to demand that all of 2010's MTA service cuts be restored. Around one-third of the eliminated service will be reinstated under a plan released by the MTA last week.

Andrew Cuomo's Tappan Zee Bridge does next to nothing for transit riders; the governor is unwilling to spend even $150 million on incremental transit improvements, much less put in the work to design a full transit corridor. But could it also hurt the existing transit system? If Cuomo isn't willing to make drivers pay the full cost of the bridge, it could. Every dollar for the Tappan Zee that doesn't come from tolls is a dollar that Albany won't give the MTA.

New York City was awarded nearly $50 million in federal grants to improve its bus service, the Federal Transit Administration announced today. The money will go toward both the basics, like a new radio system for buses, and new and improved bus lanes to speed service further.

Where can bike-share stations be located, according to the East Side's not-in-my-backyard crowd? Not Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, which is both too serene for bikes and too crowded with protestors. Not around the corner from the Israeli consulate, which is too fat a target for terrorists who, as Marcia Kramer could tell you, prefer to deliver explosives via bike. Not in areas that are too residential. Nor in areas with store entrances or medical offices. And if that leaves anywhere -- the sidewalk under a 42nd Street overpass was recommended as a model location -- no station should have more than ten docks.