The city has begun extending the double bus lanes on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, kick-starting a project that had been put on pause, officials said Friday.
The redesign, which will span from East 42nd Street to East 23rd Street, is set to make buses faster and more reliable for thousands of New Yorkers who commute along the avenue each day, the city Department of Transportation said in a release.
What You Need To Know
The city Department of Transportation has begun extending the double bus lanes on Madison Avenue from East 42nd Street down to East 23rd Street
The DOT proposed the extension last year, with plans to start construction then, but the project was put on pause, “delaying critical improvements for transit riders,” the agency said
The agency said it will complete construction over the next few weeks, weather permitting
The DOT proposed the extension last year, with plans to start construction then, but the project was put on pause, “delaying critical improvements for transit riders,” the release said.
Madison Avenue currently has two bus lanes, two travel lanes and a parking lane between East 60th and East 42nd streets that serve 34 local and express bus routes, but the two bus lanes don’t extend below East 42nd Street.
(Courtesy of the New York City Department of Transportation)
Once the redesign is complete, the avenue will have two bus lanes and a travel lane between East 42nd and East 23rd streets; a parking lane with left turn pockets between East 23rd and East 34th streets; and a parking and rush hour travel lane between East 34th and East 42nd streets, according to the release.
(Courtesy of the New York City Department of Transportation)
The DOT said it will complete construction over the next few weeks, weather permitting.
“For too long, New Yorkers have been forced to watch critical infrastructure projects be slowed, scaled back, or scrapped altogether by an administration that lacked urgency. That ends now,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “By moving forward with work on Madison, we are choosing a city that works for the many, not the few.”
“Every weekday, nearly 100,000 bus riders from all five boroughs are stuck crawling along Madison Avenue at walking speed,” DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn added in his own statement. “The snail’s pace of buses and the unpredictable commutes steal precious time from working New Yorkers that could otherwise be spent with their families and friends.”
A previous double bus lane redesign along Fifth Avenue saw local bus speeds improve between 6% and 12%, and express bus speeds improve between 11% and 20%, the release said.