Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Coronavirus Crisis

Removing cars and trucks from 42nd Street and replacing buses with a modern, low-flow, light-rail line would allow the full width of this crowded street to be used for a richly landscaped greenway and sustainable transport.
Illustration: Roxanne Warren

Op-Ed: For a Safe, Healthy City, We Need an Auto-Free Zone in Manhattan

By George Haikalis and Roxanne Warren | Apr 1, 2020 | No Comments

COVID-19 underscores that closing streets to traffic and enhancing amenities in the crowded core will be vital to the survival of urban America.

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Wednesday’s Headlines: Slow Rolling Disaster Edition

By Streetsblog | Apr 1, 2020 | No Comments

The death toll passed 1,000 in the city yesterday, the Post reported, making a sad mockery of our ever-upward state motto. Plus the other news.

Damn, you're telling me scenes like this have almost bankrupted the MTA? Photo: Kate Hinds

Advocates: MTA’s Finance Quick Fix Should Not Become Permanent

By Dave Colon | Apr 1, 2020 | No Comments

State budget negotiators are considering touching the ultimate third-rail of MTA funding — raiding revenue sources that are earmarked for capital improvements — in order to stave off an immediate fiscal collapse.

The temporary bike lane on Smith Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The city will double the number of temporary bike lanes it has erected in response to the pandemic, adding nine miles in Manhattan and Queens. Photo: Gersh Kuntzman

EYES ON THE STREET: Temporary Bike Lane on Smith Street is Great …

By Gersh Kuntzman | Mar 31, 2020 | No Comments

The temporary protected bike lane on Smith Street in Downtown Brooklyn is an unmitigated (well, almost entirely unmitigated*) success — a quick solution to a long-dangerous gap in the bike network that was undertaken efficiently by a strapped Department of Transportation.

The cones designating what was supposed to be a temporary bike lane near the Second Avenue gap have been moved. Photo: Julianne Cuba

… But Second Avenue’s Temporary PBL Has DISAPPEARED!

By Julianne Cuba | Mar 31, 2020 | No Comments

The Department of Transportation has not maintained its own temporary protected bike lane at the notoriously dangerous Second Avenue gap near the Queens Midtown Tunnel in Manhattan, forcing cyclists to ride with drivers racing to turn left into the tunnel.

Four cops at one intersection. No wonder the NYPD's open-streets plan failed. Photo: Angela Stach

Mayor to Extend ‘Open Streets’ Plan through Sunday

By Gersh Kuntzman | Mar 31, 2020 | No Comments

The four stretches of roadway set aside as a four-day, car-free pilot program last week will continue as open space for pedestrians through Sunday, Streetsblog has learned.

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