Streetfilms

Just a quick reminder: Tonight's your chance to chat up Clarence, Elizabeth, and Robin at the first Streetfilms Spectacular. We'll have snacks, drinks, and a Q&A with everybody's favorite lobbyist, Veronica Moss. There's also a rumor going around that the traffic-calming Sasquatch might make an appearance, but I make no guarantees.

You are invited to the first you-gotta-be-there event of the year. On Tuesday, January 19, we'll be hosting "Streetfilms Spectacular 2010" at our headquarters in Manhattan.

We've seen lots of new, innovative bikeway designs appear on New York City streets over the past few years. But there’s one very promising concept we haven't seen -- bicycle boulevards. Bicycle boulevard design uses a variety of techniques to create low-traffic, low-speed streets where cyclists mix comfortably with cars. They’re very popular in Portland and Berkeley, two cities with high bicycle mode-share. Here in New York, though, they don’t seem to be part of the playbook yet. In this Streetfilm we ask: Why not?

At October's Walk21 Conference, I got the chance to tour the High Bridge, a viaduct connecting Manhattan and the Bronx which has been closed to the public for nearly 40 years.

A crash shut down the southbound West Side Highway for about two hours during the morning rush yesterday. The Times reported that a northbound driver catapulted into the southbound lanes, colliding with a southbound vehicle near 125th Street shortly before 7:00 a.m. Three people were injured and taken to St. Luke's Hospital.

She's back! Veronica Moss, D.C. lobbyist for the Automobile User Trade Organization (A.U.T.O.), recently returned to New York to get her first look at the new, pedestrian-friendly Times Square. Her views may rankle some in the livable streets camp, but we think it's important to note that some influential people out there just abhor walking, socializing, and the freedom to safely enjoy public spaces.

This year the New York City Department of Transportation measured a 26 percent jump in commuter cycling. Coming on the heels of 2008's unprecedented 35 percent growth, that puts the total two-year increase at a whopping 66 percent.

A hot topic on Streetsblog the past few weeks has been the massive numbers of pedestrians and cyclists using the Brooklyn Bridge walkway during rush hours and weekends. Since many folks don't have the chance to experience the promenade day-in and day-out, I decided to capture the conditions on a recent ride home from work.