Chapter 3 The Transportation System - New York Metropolitan ...

Chapter 3New York CityNYSDOT, Region 11 has establishedpolicies and procedures to ensure thatpedestrian/bicycle needs are accommodatedat the early stages of a project development.This strategy by NYSDOThas enhanced New York City’s pedestrian/bicyclenetwork over the years withfor example the Bronx River Greenwayand the Route 9A Walkway/Bikewayprojects.For over a decade, New York City hasbeen expanding its network of bicyclelanes, shared lanes and on-and-off streetbicycle paths. In June 2009, NYCDOTaccomplished the goal of building 200miles of bicycle facilities in all five boroughswithin three years, nearly doublingthe citywide on-street network.By the end of 2011, more than 539 lanemiles of on-street and bridge bicycle facilitieshad been installed or upgradedthroughout the city. Of this total, morethan 21 lane miles are on-street bicycleTable 3.11paths physically separated from vehiculartraffic. Currently in New York City thereare over 160 miles of greenway paths.In 2011, NYCDOT’s CityRacks Programinstalled over 13,000 bicycle racks(26,000 parking spaces) since the programbegan. In addition, since 2007, 19sheltered bicycle parking structures havebeen installed, which protect parked bicyclesfrom the elements. New York Cityalso launched Citi Bike, a bike shareprogram, in the spring of 2013. It is aself-service transportation system thatprovides access to a network of 10,000bicycles distributed in 600 stations inManhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.New York City is one of the nation’s greatwalking cities, with its walking opportunitiesand robust transit system. Eachyear almost 2,000,000 square feet ofsidewalk gets repaired by NYCDOT. Inaddition, many of the 787 bridge structuresmaintained by NYCDOT haveamenities for pedestrians and bicyclists.Ongoing street furniture programs helpenliven the city streets, such as the installationof 3,300 bus shelters throughoutthe five boroughs as part of the consolidatedstreet furniture franchise contract;the construction of newsstands at no costto the stand operator (funded by advertisingpanels); a bench program, whichoffers seating at bus stops and along retailcorridors; a new wayfinding system thathelps pedestrians navigate various neighborhoods;an art program that installstemporary creations on city streets; andstreetlights that add to the illuminationof the building facades along the citystreets. In addition the New York CityDepartment of Parks and Recreation hascommitted to planting 1 million treesand greatly expanding the number ofstreet trees that bring shade and otherenvironmental benefits to pedestrians.A full discussion of pedestrian and bicycleinitiatives appears in Plan 2040:Appendix 2.Means of Transportation to Work by County of Residence:2000 Journey to Work Census Data and 2010 American Community Survey (ACS)One‐Year Estimates DataCountiesPercentage of Percentage ofWalked Bicycled Total Workers Workers Walking Workers Bicycling2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2010Nassau 16,760 17,610 1,345 1,573 619,586 626,842 2.7 2.8 0.2 0.3Suffolk 11,081 9,582 1,457 1,793 670,406 704,250 1.7 1.4 0.2 0.3Total:Long Island 27,841 27,192 2,802 3,366 1,289,992 1,331,092 2.2 2 0.2 0.3Westchester 17,180 19,383 472 739 425,052 444,428 4 4.4 0.1 0.2Putnam 770 n/a 80 n/a 48,167 n/a 1.6 n/a 0.2 n/aRockland 3,659 4,152 197 96 132,302 137,430 2.8 3 0.1 0.1Total: 21,609 23,535 749 835 605,521 581,858 3.6 4 0.1 0.1Lower Hudson ValleyBronx 30,076 38,166 987 1,997 415,075 507,594 7.2 7.5 0.2 0.4Kings 78,933 91,334 4,846 12,130 901,027 1,067,431 8.8 8.6 0.5 1.1Queens 52,776 55,220 2,417 5,083 931,709 1,019,618 5.7 5.4 0.3 0.5New York 164,934 173,499 6,410 8,707 753,114 823,612 21.9 21.1 0.9 1.1Richmond 5,545 6,054 364 n/a 191,145 197,333 2.9 3.1 0.2 n/aTotal:NYC332,264 364,273 15,024 27,917 3,192,070 3,615,588 10.4 10.1 0.5 0.8TOTAL 381,714 415,000 18,575 32,118 5,087,583 5,528,538 7.5 7.5 0.4 0.6The Transportation System 3-29