Bike Boulevards Debut in NYC: Check out Queens' 39th Avenue

Earlier this year the NYC DOT announced it would pilot one bike boulevard in each of the five boroughs. Some were actually on the ambitious side and none more so than in Sunnyside, Queens where 39th Avenue (which was designated an open street during 2020 Covid) was converted to a bike boulevard on an integral connection for bike riders for 8 blocks.

The innovative treatments (well for NYC) include a diagonal traffic diverter and frequent lane direction changes as well as swaps for wide protected bike lanes at times.

Listen to what supporters had to say!

[Zoza]

Amazing improvements NYC, greets from The Netherlands 😊..

And Happy New 2022 everyone!.

[KJSvitko]

Bicycles make life and cities better.
Protected bike lanes make cycling safer.

[bradenhazle]

In downtowns like NYC and Chicago, the majority of the city should be solely bike lanes and the rest should treat cars as guests and the only other vehicles allowed everywhere are emergency, transit and delivery vehicles. It is wayy too dense to have a car-centric system.

[ianthomas]

color me jealous, no wonder so many people are moving to NYC

[hp]

You know bike infra is safe when women and children are using it! I love how Rosamond straight up called her kids out for insisting she take a cab instead of biking. We need more folks like Rosamond!!

[Snowshowslow]

This looks like such an improvement :) Way to go!

[gameguild]

It looks very difference with what the Dutch do, if we are talking about safety for cyclists and pedestrians.
Often when the Dutch redesign something, they often rebuild a street to the new standard with cyclists and pedestrians in mind.

Not Just Bikes got some examples about why we do not let us kids travel allow in The USA, but in The Netherlands it's oke
He also often talks about how street is made to slow down speed on a straight road or an intersection.

As far I can see, In The Netherlands and most of places we can travel from city to city with just a bike.
Exempel in The you are motivated and strong, you can travel from Aardenburg al the wat across The Netherlands to Eemshaven
What would take 22H29 and is 431km, but at least you can travel it by cycle on a save way.

In Den Haag, there is a street with something we cal the Horror polder.
it is a bus only street with some sing saying that and in the middle of the street is a movable pole that only opens and close after a bus or emergency vehicle.
A lot of people crased into it or the pole enter true the car.

[oscarzaras]

Nice!!! We need more bike boulevard in all U.S.A. 🚲

[neckenwiler]

As a driver who prefers driving slowly, I also like this. It stresses me out when I’m trying to go the speed limit on a city street and everyone else wants to do 10 over.

As a biker, it’s even better.

[abbaby]

Smart, I hope this expands throughout the city

[urbanmanc]

@3:16 did a deriver go the wrong way then ?

[elizabethwilson]

Way to go New York!!!!👏👏👏👏👏👏👊👊👊👊👊👍👍👍👍👍👍

[MrBelongings]

Glad to see some holistic success outside of Manhattan. Hopefully DOT can keep this up and scale it up!

[shaunmckenzie]

Amazing. NY making progress, just needs to be faster

[MarijnvdSterre]

Great start! Next time might want to put the pedestrian crossing a couple of meters out and add some more dividers. I am pretty sure that even here in the Netherlands, where everybody is used to this, people would use that huge gap.
Edit: Or just put in a pole in the middle of the crossing at the height of the yellow poles. Pedestrians wouldn't care and it would prevent the shortcuts.

[mkkm]

What a horrible horrible idea. I mean which resident in their right mind would want a quiet street without unnecessary thru traffic? What a joke. Bikers make so much noise and pollution just to travel a short distance. Truly an abomination that must be recreated literally everywhere. ;-)

[hocuspothos]

An improvement but looks like they still have to contend with cars for a portion of the trip.

[Campfire_trails]

So happy to see this!! I think the importance of cycling as alternative transit in the US is finally starting to sink in and hopefully we can see these improvements in all cities across the country 🤞🏽😌

[mravr]

I appreciate your showing some violators of the diverter at the end of the video. Baby steps for sure. Also it answers the question of how would ambulance and fire trucks get into these neighborhoods? They can ignore the diverter I assume?

[TalwinderDhillonTravels]

Tbh it’s a bad design, can’t really blame drivers there.
Maybe making it curved would suggest people to take a turn in a specific direction