Midtown

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 has seen some of the data from the city's trial of car-free, pedestrian-priority spaces in Midtown, and it looks like the changes in traffic speeds are not as impressive as hoped for. This, I daresay, is good news.

East Side electeds continue to express support for the MTA and NYCDOT's redesign of First and Second Avenues while pushing for a more complete corridor. In exchanges with Streetsblog this week, they called attention, in particular, to the absence of plans for separated bus lanes along the corridor.

One configuration in the plan calls for a protected bike lane and a curbside bus lane. Image: MTA/NYCDOT The MTA and NYCDOT released an outline last night for faster bus service and safer biking and walking on First and Second Avenues. The redesign is the flagship project in New York City’s plans to enhance its … Continued

Hours after the Tri-State Transportation Campaign released a report yesterday identifying New York's deadliest roads, 13 AARP volunteers surveyed part of Third Avenue in an effort to make walking in New York safer.

Via Gothamist, Channel 7 reports that a truck driver who never should have been behind the wheel killed a man walking on a Midtown sidewalk this morning:

Manhattan CB4's transportation committee passed a resolution last night in favor of speedier transit and improved pedestrian conditions on 34th Street. The vote followed a brief presentation from NYCDOT outlining several options for a second phase of transit enhancements on the crosstown corridor. It's still very early in the process: The decision whether to pursue BRT, light rail, or streetcars, for instance, is at least a few months away.

Last September DOT and the MTA launched the 34th Street bus lane, New York City's second Select Bus Service route. You could say it's had some growing pains. Bus riders aren't getting the speedy, reliable trips they should be getting out of an exclusive transit route, because other vehicles, especially ones belonging to the NYPD, it seems, constantly block the way. The good news is that the terra cotta curbside lanes on 34th are just the first phase of the project. At a Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting tonight, DOT will be seeking feedback on the next phase.

We've posted many times on NYPD bus lane abuse, so it's nice to have this reader-submitted shot. This scofflaw driver was tagged Monday evening on E. 57th Street between Madison and Fifth -- just in time for bus passengers to witness a rare act of traffic law enforcement.