Central Park: A Car-Free Masterpiece

No matter what they think of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates,” New Yorkers agree that the temporary traffic restrictions are a stroke of genius. Manhattan has not been crippled by gridlock. Rather, hundreds of thousands of people are flocking to the park to wander through the orange paths—and signing T.A.’s petition for a car-free Central Park in record numbers.

On January 3rd, and now with “The Gates,” Mayor Bloomberg has moved us closer to a totally car-free park. Let him know that he is going in the right direction. Send an e-fax to Mayor Bloomberg thanking him for restricting car traffic in Central Park during “The Gates.”

Help Win NYC's Next Big Bike Lane!

T.A. needs your help to gather community support for New York City’s next big bike lane! To volunteer to help win a bike lane on 8th Avenue in Manhattan, e-mail bike@transalt.org.

Recent traffic counts show that the City Department of Transportation can add—with no effect on parking and a miniscule effect on car traffic—a buffered bike lane on 8th Avenue from 14th Street to Columbus Circle, with a small gap around the Port Authority bus terminal.

This is a rare opportunity to win a breakthrough bike lane in New York City. In 2003, Community Boards 4 and 5 both asked the DOT to study adding a bike lane to 8th Avenue. It is not often that one, let alone two, community boards ask for a new bike lane.

An 8th Avenue bike lane from 14th Street to Columbus Circle will fill a gaping hole in the on-street network. It will create an eight-mile long on-street lane (save a gap near the Port Authority Bus Terminal) in the center of Manhattan connecting the existing bike lanes on Hudson Street (from Dominick to 14th Street) and Central Park West/Frederick Douglass Boulevard (from 63rd Street to 121st Street).

The new bike lane will help tame car traffic, make 8th Avenue safer for bicycling and the traveling public and reduce sidewalk cycling. It will encourage more riding and embolden less experienced cyclists who rely solely on the Hudson River Greenway to make the transition to city streets. A buffered bike lane on 8th Avenue will also provide a safer alternative to the sub-standard 6th Avenue bike lane.

Volunteer! E-mail bike@transalt.org.

Learn more about T.A.'s bike lane campaigns!

New Study: NYC Traffic Causes Birth Defects and Cancer

Since the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry released its misguided assessment of the link between vehicle traffic and air pollution in 1976, millions of New Yorkers have fallen ill to tailpipe emissions. In fact, a recently released Columbia University Center for Children’s Environmental Health study, which links car and truck emissions to genetic abnormalities and cancer, proves what residents of the South Bronx, Harlem and Washington Heights already know all too well: traffic pollution is extremely harmful to the health of New Yorkers. Other recent studies have linked high traffic volumes to asthma and decreased physical activity, which causes obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

These studies underscore the need to significantly reduce traffic in New York City by investing in our mass transportation, walking and biking systems.

Following the release of the study, Transportation Alternatives; the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign; the NY League of Conservation Voters; Natural Resources Defense Council; Environmental Defense; the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance; WE ACT for Environmental Justice; Sustainable South Bronx; and the Washington Heights and Inwood Coalition on Aging all called on Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki to take immediate action to reduce traffic in New York City, particularly in the neighborhoods of the South Bronx, Harlem and Washington Heights.

Specifically, Mayor Bloomberg should:

• Create a Transportation and Health task force, consisting of the City Departments of Health, Transportation, Parks, Police and City Planning. This task force would introduce more stringent health impact criteria into transportation and land use policy and investment decisions.
• Expand the NYPD’s truck enforcement personnel to better keep trucks off of neighborhood streets. Currently, the NYPD has fewer than fifteen officers who specialize in truck enforcement.
• Expand the Department of Transportation’s bicycle and pedestrian programs. According to a report released by the Independent Budget Office on January 28, 2005, DOT spending in these areas only represents 1% of the agency's traffic operations spending. Walking and bicycling trips would replace many current driving trips if they were safer and more convenient. With more staff and more funding, the City could:
  • Expand New York City’s bicycling and greenway network and create secure bike parking.
  • Introduce 15 mph slow speed zones around city schools and in dense residential neighborhoods, and enforce them with traffic calming measures like speed humps.

And Governor Pataki should:

• Fully fund the MTA’s capital plan. The Governor’s current budget, which shortchanges the MTA capital plan by $11 billion dollars, will lead to degraded transit service and encourage more driving.

Letters

New Bike Lanes Already Fading

Dear T.A.,

Do you know why the bike lanes recently painted on 10th Street in Manhattan have worn off within a few months? Surely the technologies for painting street lines that last a year or two are pretty well established. Thanks for all your work.

Thanks for your note. We've gotten a number of complaints about the poor condition of the 9th and 10th Street bike lanes in Manhattan. We recommend calling 311 and also sending a quick note to the City Department of Transportation, urging them to repave 9th and 10th Streets and restripe the bike lanes there. Write to:

Margaret Forgione
Manhattan Borough Commissioner
NYC Department of Transportation
40 Worth Street
New York, NY 10013

T.A. will also send a request.

Making Online Bike Maps a Reality

Dear T.A.,

Currently maps.google.com appears to do all route planning/reporting under the assumption that you are driving a personal automobile. I just wrote the folks there to try to convince them that they should make their site allow route planning for bikes as well. If a bunch of people wrote Google making the same type of request, maybe they'd listen? Getting the weight of Transportation Alternatives behind this idea might help to convince them. I know you've got a lot of projects underway, but it seems like this might be a good way to raise the visibility of bikes, and potentially encourage some folks who haven't been riding to come out.

Daniel G.

Dear Daniel,

Thanks for your message. Here is the letter we just sent off to Google.

Dear Google Maps,

Can you please include a bicycling option in the "Get Directions" tool in Google Maps? This would make it much easier for people to figure how to get where they want to go by bicycle and, thus, encourage more people to ride bikes—a mode of transportation that is universally agreed to be good for people and for cities, the environment, etc, etc. Ideally, the route plans would direct people to the closest on-street bike lanes and off-street paths, have detailed directions to get on and off bridges and avoid highways and other arterial streets and avenues. We know that ideas are a dime a dozen, but in a dense city like New York, this would be an invaluable tool. The City of New York already produces a very good bicycling map that Google could work off of, and you might be able to get local bike shops to sponsor the page, marking their locations along suggested routes. We would be more than happy to talk or meet with you to discuss this idea in more detail and see how Transportation Alternatives could help make it happen.

Walk Lights Missing on Park Avenue

Dear T.A.,

I heard a T.A. staffer on NPR today talking all about don’t walk signs in New York City. I have always wondered why there are no don’t walk signs on Park Avenue between about 45th Street up to at least 65th Street. It is such a wide busy dangerous avenue seems so odd that it is the only place in New York City that doesn't have any. Why is that?

Kevin J.

Dear Kevin,

We often get this question about the lack of WALK lights on Park Avenue. As you say, it is a dangerous street; between 1995 and 2001, one pedestrian was killed and 231 injured between 45th and 65th Streets on Park Avenue. The reason that there are no signs is that the New York City Department of Transportation asserts that the decking over the train tracks running under Park Avenue is only eight inches thick, making it difficult to install walk signals in appropriate locations.

Are You a full-fledged member of Transportation Alternatives?

If not, now's the time. We need your support to win car-free parks, better bicycling, and citywide traffic calming and pedestrian safety measures. Become a T.A. member today!

transalt.org/join  

Dear Reader,,

Let’s Reach Six Figures!

People are flocking to Central Park to see The Gates, and signing our petition for a Car-Free Central Park in record numbers.

We are closing in on the magic 100,000 signature mark. Reaching this important milestone will show City Hall and the world that New Yorkers want to reclaim our foremost urban sanctuary for recreational use only.

We need your help to reach 100,000 signatures! To volunteer, send an email to T.A.’s Car Free Central Park campaign: centralpark@
transalt.org

Sincerely,
Paul S. White
Executive Director

Join T.A. today to start receiving Transportation Alternatives Magazine, our members-only in-depth quarterly magazine—
just one of the many personal benefits of T.A. membership!

Request a sample copy!

Rides and Walks

NYC Century Bike Tour

POTHOLES, STREET HAZARDS GOT YOU IN A RUT?

Call DOT at 212-225-5368 and hit 0 to skip the message and speak with a human. You can also report them online at transalt.org/
hazard.

STAY SMART & INFORMED

Savvy transit riders get their lowdown on the subways here:

straphangers
.org
The ultimate source for bus and subway service changes, rider comments and complaints that produce action. Help yourself and T.A.’s favorite transit advocates. Check it out.

Sensible Transport Junkies:

Subscribe to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s e-weekly, Mobilizing the Region.  tstc.org

The daily Gotham Gazette

Go global at itdp.org!