City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams wants to prod City Hall into stepping up its efforts to hit annual mileage targets for new bike and bus lanes.
Speaker Adams said Wednesday that through new legislation she wants to create a “capital tracker of streets plan projects, from conception to finalized construction, that will be updated monthly.” The Streets Master Plan, which became law in 2019, required the Department of Transportation to build 80 miles of bike lanes and 50 miles of bus lanes, among other traffic upgrades, within the first two years of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
But the projects have fallen behind. In a February report on the Streets Master Plan, DOT said it has rolled out 58.2 miles of bike paths and just 9.6 miles of bus lanes. Bus transit is especially critical to promoting alternatives to cars with the anticipated June launch of congestion pricing. Speaker Adams said she aims to ratchet up pressure for compliance through greater transparency.
“Laws and policies are only as good as their implementation,” she said Wednesday during her State of the City address. “A prime example is the streets plan, which the Department of Transportation was required to create by law. DOT must comply and meet the benchmarks mandated by the plan. New Yorkers can wait no longer.”
The speaker added that a tracker would allow New Yorkers to see progress on specific activities in their communities and make it abundantly clear where transit officials are falling short. “Oversight and transparency are essential to accountability, which is critical to the health of our city and our democracy,” she added.
DOT officials say they are hindered by a city hiring freeze and across-the-board budget reductions the mayor has ordered. In its February progress report DOT said the agency “did our best to protect services, but unfortunately many programs, including supporting the Streets Plan had to be reduced.”
Speaker Adams’ proposal isn’t yet drafted in bill form, council staff said. DOT spokesman Vincent Barone said in a statement that “we look forward to reviewing the legislation.”
The transportation agency cautioned, however, that it already provides annual updates on the streets plan and noted that more granular updates may pose a challenge. The feedback indicates a political battle may be on the horizon over the implementation of the streets plans. Earlier this year, Speaker Adams said she’s open to exploring a lawsuit against the city in order to force city compliance.
DOT is also behind on upgrading bus stops — 54 of 1,000 have been outfitted with bus time poles or shelters, while another 320 stops have received seating. Similarly, the agency did not hit the mark on installing pedestrian-friendly signal timing at 2,000 intersections.
DOT staff say it exceeded a benchmark for adding accessible signals to 1,000 intersections and has reached a record high of more than 1 million square feet of pedestrian space.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and Chief Executive Janno Lieber has also complained about bus lanes lagging. “I love 2022 Eric Adams who said he wanted to be the bus mayor; we’ve got to get back on the track of opening the way” for buses stuck in traffic, Lieber told reporters in February.
Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for the Riders Alliance, said he hopes a new project tracker would bring greater public scrutiny.
“Mayor Adams promised to go above and beyond the streets plan and he has utterly failed us so far,” Pearlstein said. “The streets plan is off track, so it requires a heightened degree of remedial monitoring, which is what this will involve.”
Elizabeth Adams, deputy executive director for public affairs at Transportation Alternatives, which advocates for street safety measures, said the city’s annual progress report is too infrequent.
“It shouldn’t fall on the public to track the progress of legally-required and taxpayer-funded street safety projects,” she said. “Once live, the tracker will help ensure projects are being planned equitably across the city, shovels are in the ground, and the projects the New Yorkers deserve get completed.”
Caroline Spivack , 2024-03-14 17:40:48
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