New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner (NYC DOT) Ydanis Rodriguez today announced historic street safety and accessibility improvements under the Adams administration, including record measures to protect cyclists, safeguard pedestrians, enhance intersections, make it easier for people with low-vision to use our streets, improve bus service, and more. The announcement was made as the agency published its annual Streets Plan Update.
“Over the past three years we’ve built a record number of protected bike lanes, pedestrian space, and intersection safety upgrades that are making our streets safer and better for everyone,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “New York City is the national leader in pioneering street safety and public space improvements, and we look forward to building upon this success.”
Breaking Records
- Safer Cyclists: Over the past three years, NYC DOT installed an all-time high 87.5 miles of protected bike lane miles and upgraded an additional 20+ miles of bike lanes through ‘hardening’ with physical infrastructure to better protect cyclists from other vehicles. Last year alone, the agency added 29.3 miles of protected bike lanes, the third most mileage number built in the city’s history following a record year of 31.9 miles in 2023. The Adams administration’s three-year average for new protected bike lane miles is 29.1 miles per year, a 10 percent increase from the final three years of the previous administration.
- Safer Pedestrians: Over the past three years, NYC DOT created a record 1.5 million square feet of new pedestrian space. This vastly expanded space enhances safety for the most common road user: pedestrians. Last year alone, NYC DOT added another 350,000 square feet of new pedestrian space, roughly the equivalent of eight city blocks of new pedestrian space through the city.
- Safer Intersections: Over the past three years, NYC DOT implemented a record 5,765 intersection improvements that bolster safety. This includes measures to enhance visibility, reduce speeding, and more. Last year the agency completed upgrades at a record 2,688 intersections.
- Accessible Streets for New Yorkers with Low Vision: Over the past three years, NYC DOT implemented 2,222 accessible pedestrian signals to help low-vision New Yorkers safely cross streets. This includes 885 accessible pedestrian signals installed last year.
- Better Bus Lanes: Through transformative bus lane projects on Manhattan’s 96th Street, Second Avenue, and along Allen, Pike, and Madison streets through the expansion of bus-mounted camera enforcement, last year NYC DOT delivered 17.9 miles of new, upgraded, or newly-protected bus lanes—the highest annual mileage for protected bus lanes. This includes 5.5 miles of newly-installed protected bus lanes and an additional 12.4 miles of bus lanes protected by bus-mounted enforcement cameras, improving commutes for bus riders.
- Reimagining Public Space: While the work is not measured by the Streets Plan, the agency launched a permanent outdoor dining program–already more than two times the size of the city’s pre-pandemic program; has supported more than 200 Open Street locations every year; expanded Summer Streets to all five boroughs and north to Harlem; and launched an innovative curb management program on the Upper West Side to examine how to configure the streets of the future to address needs for safe cycling, biking, commercial and residential parking, and much more.
Lessons from the Streets Plan
In December 2019, the New York City Council passed Local Law 195 to establish a five-year Streets Master Plan, with unprecedented targets for NYC DOT to add 150 protected bus lane miles, 2,500 bus stop upgrades, 2,000 intersection improvements, and 250 protected bike lane miles over five years, as well as 1,000,000 square feet of pedestrian space over two years, and more.
Despite record accomplishments, as previous NYC DOT commissioners cautioned before the plan was passed into law by the city council, some of the most ambitious Streets Plan benchmarks have proven unattainable due to myriad logistical and resource constraints.
Ahead of the council’s passage of the Streets Plan, then-NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg cautioned that, “The bill’s vast new operational requirements would necessitate significant additional funding from the city budget, which we estimate to be several billion dollars, new head count, new facilities, and equipment. Furthermore, the magnitude of the changes proposed would require a new reenvisioned public engagement model, perhaps with fewer mandated requirements for work with the city’s 59 community boards, and the work we do with councilmembers, borough presidents, state and federal elected officials, BIDs, major institutions, civic groups, and all the numerous other entities that are affected by DOT’s work.”
A few months after Commissioner Trottenberg delivered this testimony and the council passed the legislation, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, exacerbating problems delivering on a Streets Plan that set lofty, unprecedented targets. Financial strain due to the pandemic triggered a citywide hiring freeze that impacted the agency’s workforce level, and spending freezes constrained resources that NYC DOT articulated in 2019.
With this in mind, the Adams administration has been aggressively rebuilding agency capacity to meet the intent of the Street Plan, even on a Covid-delayed schedule. This includes:
Staffing: From a Covid-era low of 466 staff members in early 2022 in the Transportation Planning and Management division largely responsible for Streets Plan delivery, staffing has increased to 525, an increase of more than 12 percent. Work continues to fill vacancies and expand these programs.
Space: More staff and more operational output require more facility space, and DOT and DCAS have been working together to secure this space through the complex city process. This includes new space for concrete crews in Brooklyn in 2024, a new dedicated facility for in-house markings crews that will allow that program to be expanded, and ongoing work to upgrade the Maspeth Central shop that houses significant operational responsibilities.
Public Engagement: The Adams administration has shown a deep commitment to local public engagement, and DOT has expanded how it does outreach, with more emphasis on local interactions, including on-street engagement with Street Ambassadors, door to door surveys of residents and businesses, and online workshops to complement in-person efforts, for people not able to go to an evening meeting. Last year alone, NYC DOT received feedback from local community members at nearly 2,600 events. In addition, the council has enacted a number of local laws around notification that affect the timelines of project delivery. Together these sometimes can cause projects to take longer, but are important for helping deliver projects in line with local community needs.
Funding: The Adams administration has committed significant capital and expense funding towards the Streets Plan effort, including the initial down payment of over $900 million, as well as other needs. The funding has been in line with DOT’s ability to spend the money, which is related to the other elements noted above.
Contracting: Still, money alone is not enough to support the plan. The agency has stated from the first Streets Plan that its ambitious targets go beyond NYC DOT’s existing capacity and its contracting partners. Achieving the Streets Plan would, for example, require roughly doubling the amount of markings used for new bus and bike lanes. NYC DOT primarily relies on contracted crews to restripe roadways, but there are consistently too few crews available in the marketplace to hire to achieve the Streets Plan targets.
NYC DOT will continue to strive to achieve the Streets Plan’s goals and to develop projects that advance safe and sustainable transportation, including delivering critical safety, infrastructure, and quality of life improvements that are not measured by the Streets Plan.
