NYC’s Sands Street Gets a Sassy, Center-Median Cycletrack

Chalk up more bikeway innovation
to the folks at the NYC Department of Transportation. Now nearly
complete, the Sands Street approach to the Manhattan Bridge is now
safer and more enjoyable thanks to a first-of-its-kind in NYC: a
center-median, two-way, protected bike path. Frankly, the facility is a
perfect solution to counter the dangers posed by a tangle of roads and
highway on-ramps that burden the area. Dramatic before and afters tell
the delicious story.

We’ll also take you back into the archives to April 2005, when following a severe injury to Transportation Alternatives‘
then Deputy Director Noah Budnick, advocates held a passionate rally to
ask Mayor Bloomberg to not only improve bike access to the Manhattan
Bridge, but to all East River Bridges. Four years later, there’s much
to be proud of. As Ryan Russo, NYC DOT Assistant Commissioner for
Traffic Management points out, back in 2005 about 800 cyclists used the
bridge daily. In 2009, those numbers have soared to over 2600. That
gives us a serious case of happiness.