Midtown

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.

Transit-oriented development is a virtuous circle. New transit infrastructure makes it easier and faster to get to a place, and then that place grows. New development in turn leads to demand to justify better infrastructure, and more tax dollars to pay for it. That, in a nutshell, is the story of how Manhattan grew into what it is today, first around streetcars, then els, and eventually the subways.

Construction on Midtown protected bike lanes continues apace. Reader Hilda Cohen sends in the above shot from Ninth Avenue, where she says "contractors are out marking lines between 47th and 39th."

Which parts of Manhattan have seen the healthiest commercial real estate markets since the economic collapse of 2008? It's the Meatpacking District and the area around Broadway between Union and Herald Squares, according to a new report by broker Janet Liff [PDF], covered by Crain's last week. Notably, says Liff, both of those neighborhoods have received significant improvements to their streets, adding more public space and increasing safety for walking and biking.

Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke fame sends these shots of another milestone in the extension of the Eighth Avenue protected bike lane: The pedestrian islands are going in. These pools of pure unspoiled concrete were spied at the intersection of 35th Street.

More streetscape news from Midtown: In addition to the Eighth Avenue bike lane expansion and the installation of 6 1/2 Avenue, DOT is already at work on new crosstown lanes. Steve O., a.k.a. @eveostay, snapped this shot today at the brand new intersection of the E. 51st Street lane and 6 1/2 Ave.

Safer streets are taking shape in Midtown, with work underway to create new paths through the heart of the city for pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Attention Scott Stringer: The anti-bike share NIMBYs of Turtle Bay don't speak for everyone who uses Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.

Manhattan Community Board 6 last night approved a DOT proposal for four new pairs of crosstown bike lanes from 39th to 55th Streets.