Car-Free Streets

Looks like we're headed for a sunny weekend as NYC's slate of summer car-free street events gets going. NYCDOT hasn't updated their "Weekend Walks" site yet to show when and where all the neighborhood-scale street parties will be happening. But one of the first of 2010 is coming to Amsterdam Avenue from 106th Street to 110th Street this Sunday. Head over between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. for "Manhattan Valley Family Days" -- mural drawing, bike lessons for kids, live music, and lots of other stuff is on tap.

Safer street conditions and more space for pedestrians and cyclists could soon be coming to Union Square under a plan to be unveiled by DOT today.

DOT yesterday announced a competition for temporary designs to "refresh" Times Square while the agency develops plans for permanent pedestrian plazas.

When DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan hinted last Tuesday that bolder ideas were on the way for bus rapid transit in New York City, she apparently meant "next week." The DOT website now displays an updated plan for the next phase of bus improvements on 34th Street, which would convert the current bus lanes into a full-fledged transitway.

When NYPD announced Monday that, effective April 1, city parades must be shortened in distance by 25 percent and may no longer exceed five hours -- period -- there was an understandable sense of disappointment. But since the move was framed as an unavoidable reality of lean times -- "The mayor has made it clear that New Yorkers can't afford a tax increase now, and we can't take our eyes off the ball when it comes to keeping crime low," said Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler -- electeds don't seem to be putting up much of an argument. After all, how you gonna enjoy the parade if you get shot, or blown up by terrorists?

Health Commissioner Thomas Farley: ready to saddle up and ride to work. Image: NY Daily News. With half a year in New York and (most of) a nasty flu season under his belt, new Health Commissioner Tom Farley recently sat down with Transportation Alternatives to discuss the importance of walking and biking for NYC’s health. … Continued

Eight months after New York City changed traffic patterns in midtown Manhattan, transforming Broadway and reclaiming acres of urban space for pedestrian plazas at Times Square and Herald Square, Mayor Bloomberg announced this morning that the trial has proven successful and the changes will be permanent. Streetsblog will post a full report, including data collected from the trial period, later today. Stay tuned.

Mayor Bloomberg is expected to announce his verdict on Times Square's new pedestrian spaces very soon. Will the changes be permanent? This morning Bloomberg told radio host John Gambling that we'll find out sometime next week. In the meantime, it seems like the media has decided to fixate on rumors that Midtown traffic speeds may not have increased across the board, without paying much attention to the tremendous difference this project has made for hundreds of thousands of pedestrians every day.