NYC Streets Plan Remains Largely on Paper

Writing in Streetsblog NYC, Dave Colon outlines the lack of progress made by New York City on its safe streets goals, noting that “In 2023, Mayor Adams failed spectacularly in meeting a legal mandate to construct 50 miles of protected bike lanes and 30 miles of protected or ‘enhanced’ bus lanes.”

Despite the 2019 law mandating these targets, Colon notes that the city likely won’t face any consequences. “Far from meeting the established benchmarks, the city under Mayor Adams has run away from high-profile fights, delayed and slow-walked contentious projects and failed to adequately staff DOT.”

Colon describes the history of the law, signed by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, which faced setbacks as the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the city and its budget. The Department of Transportation lost staff during 2022 and has yet to fully recover.

Colon places much of the blame for the city’s lackluster 2023 performance on Mayor Eric Adams and his “true disregard for the legal benchmarks in the master plan.” As Colon explains, “Projects lived or died based on his nebulous ideas of community support. Some disappeared for no reason.” At the core of the issue is the lack of enforcement mechanisms in the Streets Master Plan. “The City Council has registered its disapproval, but little else, via Transportation Committee Chairwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers.” It remains unclear if the council will take steps to make the administration comply with the law.