On March 5, 2025, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and officials in Greenwich Village celebrated the redesign along the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan at Sixth Avenue with a ribbon cutting. The project is one of several across Manhattan avenues designed to improve street safety by providing wider protected bike lanes to accommodate the record growth in cycling across the City. The City Department of Transportation has completed redesign projects on First, Second, Seventh, and Tenth Avenues.
The redesign aims to reduce illegal speeding by integrating intersection designs that require slow turns and create safer angles for turning vehicles and reduce pedestrians crossing time. The implementation of protected bike lanes has resulted in a 18.1 percent decrease in total deaths and serious injuries, a 29.1 percent decrease in pedestrian deaths and serious injuries, and a 39 percent decrease in senior pedestrian injuries and deaths.
The improvements at First Avenue consisted of adding protected bike lanes in the tunnel and widened uptown, including intersection upgrades. The Second Avenue improvements included widening bike lanes and bus lanes, and adding pedestrian islands. The Sixth Avenue project involved adding a new widened protected bike lane. The Seventh Avenue project involved installing a new protected bike lane segment. The Tenth Avenue project involved extending a protected bike lane which created a continuous route and adding pedestrian safety features.
New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said, “With these new street designs, on Sixth Avenue and across Manhattan, we are making our streets safer for everyone – whether you’re riding a bike, walking, or in a car. The wider bike lanes that are part of these projects will help support the historic growth in cycling that we have seen across the city. Improving our street designs are a key part of Mayor Adams’ Charge Safe, Ride Safe plan to better accommodate the rapid growth in e-mobility while encouraging safe and orderly riding.”
By: Chelsea Ramjeawan (Chelsea is the CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2025.)