{"id":349666,"date":"2026-09-17T22:18:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349666\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T22:18:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:18:29","slug":"dot-improves-its-park-avenue-plan-with-separate-bike-and-pedestrian-space-in-widened-median","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349666\/","title":{"rendered":"DOT Improves Its ‘Park’ Avenue Plan With Separate Bike And Pedestrian Space In Widened Median"},"content":{"rendered":"

After further review \u2026 the city did better!<\/p>\n

The Mamdani administration unveiled its plan for transforming the median of Park Avenue into a space for meandering pedestrians and for cyclists \u2014\u00a0and it\u2019s bolder than the Department of Transportation\u2019s original proposal from earlier this summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new plan \u2014\u00a0which features the same widened pedestrian space in the middle of the fabled roadway, but adds a two-way protected bike lane in its own space adjacent to the median between 46th and 57th streets \u2014\u00a0came after two Midtown community boards told the administration to put more \u201cpark\u201d into Park Avenue by giving cyclists and pedestrians their own space.<\/p>\n

At the time, all DOT would say was that it would \u201creview\u201d the resolution. Well, the review is in and it\u2019s close to spectacular.<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, handed first to Gothamist<\/a>, the center median \u2014 currently just flowers \u2014 will widen to create space for pedestrians to not only walk, but gather. In addition, one of the southbound car travel lanes will be converted into a two-way protected bike lane just outside that planted median.<\/p>\n

\"\"Here\u2019s what it would look like from the sky. Rendering: DOT<\/p>\n

\u201cThe redesign responds to feedback from New Yorkers by moving the originally proposed two-way bike lane alongside the median into dedicated space while preserving expanded pedestrian areas,\u201d the administration said in its statement acknowledging the community board input.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Yorkers asked us to make more room for people to walk, bike and enjoy their city, and we listened,\u201d Mayor Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cThis updated design puts more space where it belongs: in the hands of New Yorkers. \u2026 We are making Park Avenue safer and more beautiful for everyone who uses it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Two more gorgeous renderings. Rendering: Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners<\/p>\n

\"\" Rendering: Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners<\/p>\n

Sandra McKee, the chair of Manhattan CB6, added that her board was \u201cpleased to see\u201d that DOT\u2019s updated designs \u201crespond to feedback from our resolution and better balance pedestrian space, greenery and dedicated bicycle infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, here was the original design options presented earlier this year:<\/p>\n

\"\"These were good, but not good enough. And DOT agreed! Renderings: DOT<\/a><\/p>\n

One tiny disappointment should be allowed to creep into DOT\u2019s plan: It is not as bold as one put forward by Queens street safety activist Alex Duncan, known to Reddit users as Miser. In May<\/a>, shortly before the community boards voted, Duncan put forth images that showed a similarly widened median as the DOT\u2019s final plan, but also closed many crosstown intersections to car traffic, making the bike and pedestrian space seamless from block to block:<\/p>\n

\"\"DOT did not go with \u201cThe Miser Plan.\u201d Graphic: Alex Duncan<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Duncan called the Park Avenue plan \u201ca small win\u201d for \u201cclawing back a little more space from cars.\u201d But he wasn\u2019t happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn true New York City fashion, [it] falls short of what should be done \u2026specifically prioritizing micromobility over cars,\u201d he added. \u201cIt should take another lane from cars on the other side for an additional bike lane, making two full-width lanes. The plan also desperately needs to close some cross streets to cars \u2026 otherwise people won\u2019t even be able to use the median park or the bike lanes because cars will stack up between them as they do now every block.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samir Lavingia, who is a vice-chair of CB5, said he was generally supportive of a project \u201cthat proves DOT doesn\u2019t have to choose between safe spaces for bikes and pedestrians\u201d and was \u201cthrilled\u201d to see his community board\u2019s feedback incorporated into the final design, but he shared Duncan\u2019s concern about the cross streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeaving the cross streets open will remain a missed opportunity,\u201d said Lavingia, who stressed that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as a member of the board leadership. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t settle for just restoring Park Avenue to what it was a century ago and we should be building a truly connected, visionary linear park for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streetsblog asked DOT on Thursday about possible conflicts between cyclists and southbound drivers turning left off Park, and the agency said that it will install dedicated left-turn signal phases to accommodate pedestrian and cyclist movements along the median.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After further review \u2026 the city did better! The Mamdani administration unveiled its plan for transforming the median…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63,52479],"class_list":["post-349666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-promoted"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}