The former NYC transportation commissioner says Mamdani’s streets plan is ambitious, but not impossible.
Former New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan says “There’s absolutely no reason” the city can’t achieve Zohran Mamdani’s plan for more people- and transit-friendly streets, writes Adele Peters in Fast Company. “Mamdani wants to pedestrianize ‘vast swaths’ of the new congestion pricing zone, along with streets near public open space and schools. It’s an ambitious vision, though not impossible.’”
Pointing out that “People have seen their streets change in real time” over the last two decades, including during her tenure, Sadik-Khan said “People walking and biking and taking transit far outnumber those in cars, but the street does not reflect that reality.”
Sadik-Khan suggests that the city could improve transit reliability by altering street designs to prioritize buses and make biking and walking safer by building dedicated lanes for faster micromobility vehicles like e-bikes and scooters that compete with pedal-powered bikes and pedestrians for scarce right-of-way. And while bike lanes and other Complete Streets projects still meet with backlash, Sadik-Khan expressed optimism that Mamdani’s skill at effectively communicating the need for change will help move the needle toward more human-centered streets.
FULL STORY: How Mamdani could push a bold redesign of New York’s streets
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