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New York City Has Added 200 Miles of Bike Lanes

Posted by: Liyuan Huang

2 June 2009 - 8:00am

New York City had a 35 percent increase in commuter cycling last year. Much of the increase was attributed to New York City’s Department of Transportation's experimenting with innovative bicycle facilities based on European models.

"The expansion allowed the city to tie the existing network together. Previously, the 400 miles of bike lanes weren’t linked, so the New York City’s Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) focused on making connections, thereby integrating the network. In the process, the NYCDOT was able to design 200 miles of streets for cyclists, drivers, buses and pedestrians.

To deal with unique situations, the NYCDOT borrowed designs from other cities in the U.S. and around the world.

In New York City, on-street bike paths, green coloured bike lanes that make paths more visible to motorists, and wider parking lanes were established to make cycling more enjoyable and safer for commuters.

The safety of the new bike lanes is attracting a lot of new cyclists while dramatically reducing the amount of sidewalk cycling.

Despite the astronomical growth in bicycle facilities, the number of people who commute by bicycle is still only 1 per cent, climbing as high as 4 per cent in some of the denser neighbourhoods of New York City."

Full Story: Cycling experts create innovative on-street bicycle network in New York City
Source: rabble.ca, May 30, 2009
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