200 Miles of Bicycle Routes in 3 Years
In June 2009, the NYC Department of Transportation completed the City’s ambitious goal of building 200 bike-lane miles in all five boroughs in just three years, nearly doubling the citywide on-street bike network while reshaping the city’s streets to make them safer for everyone who uses them. The same period also saw unprecedented expansion and innovation of the overall network, including the installation of 4.9 miles of bike paths physically separated from car traffic lanes, 20 sheltered bike parking structures and 3,100 bike racks, accompanied by a more than 45% growth in commuter cycling in that time. This commitment was announced in September 2006.
DOT remains committed to its goal of doubling bicycle commuting between 2007 and 2015 and tripling it by 2020, as laid out in the agency's strategic plan. The City is on track to meet its combined agency goal of 1,800 bike-lane miles (on street, in parks and along paths) by the year 2030, as outlined in the City's Bike Master Plan and in the Mayor's PlaNYC agenda. DOT plans are to install 50 lane miles each year until the citywide bicycle network is complete.
Installation takes place year-long, with a brief hiatus during the coldest months. You can track past, present and future progress toward meeting our ambitious target here:
2009 Bicycle Route Projects
2008 Bicycle Route Projects
2007 Bicycle Route Projects
2006 Bicycle Route Projects (from July 1st)
Our goal is to accelerate the growth of safe cycling by quickly providing a backbone system of bicycle routes that traverse and connect all five boroughs while also creating a dense, fine-grained network of bike lanes in communities where cycling is already a popular mode of transportation.
Innovative Design
DOT seeks not to simply expand the network, but to make it more user-friendly and compelling via bold and innovative designs. This is happening through a variety of means:
Traffic calming and redesigning streets for all users like for Ninth Street and Lafayette Avenue
Aggressively piloting high visibility green bicycle lanes as at Prince and Bleecker Streets
Creatively accommodating cyclists in complex intersection improvements particularly along major cycling routes as at Grand Army Plaza, the Manhattan Bridge and Ninth Ave through 14th Street
Developing and deploying pioneering designs such as the one-of-a-kind Ninth Avenue Bicycle Path
Bicycle Statistics
DOT conducts bicycle counts on all roadways crossing 50th Street in Manhattan, plus the Hudson River Greenways, the Staten Island Ferry at Whitehall, and the Queensboro, Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. The counts, known as the screenline began in 1980 and have been conducted annually since 1984. Using this data the DOT has developed the NYCDOT Commuter Cycling Indicator for 1984 to 2008. It shows a 35% increase between 2007 and 2008 alone. Read more about the screenline counts.
NYMTC also collects data on cycling in the five boroughs and suburbs through the NYMTC Bicycle Data Collection Program.
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