Transportation Alternatives
Streetsblog Basics
What Would a National Vision Zero Movement Look Like?
Earlier this week, New York-based Transportation Alternatives released a statement of 10 principles that emerged from the Vision Zero symposium the group sponsored last Friday. It was the first-ever national gathering of thought leaders and advocates committed to spreading Vision Zero’s ethic of eliminating all traffic deaths through better design, enforcement, and education.
November 21, 2014
Reimagining Jay Street With Shared Space and Protected Bike Lanes
Jay Street is one of the major north-south spines of Downtown Brooklyn. The street is full of pedestrians near MetroTech, cyclists going to and from the Manhattan Bridge, and buses connecting to nearby subways, but it's not designed to serve anyone particularly well -- except, perhaps, people with parking placards. Double-parked cars constantly obstruct bike lanes and buses. Pedestrians deal with dangerous intersections. Everyone is frustrated.
November 21, 2014
Will de Blasio’s Bike Lane Network Keep Pace With Citi Bike Expansion?
A City Council hearing on bike infrastructure is about to get underway this afternoon, where council members will "focus on ways to improve" NYC bike infrastructure, according to a press release from Ydanis Rodriguez, the transportation chair.
November 20, 2014
TransAlt Volunteers Keep Momentum Going for Midtown Complete Streets
Despite being flat, Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue have long been an uphill battle -- for safe biking and walking that is. In 1980, in a decision well ahead of the times, Mayor Ed Koch had protected bike lanes installed on these heavily trafficked corridors, only to wipe away that groundbreaking work by removing the concrete barriers one month later. A few remnants of the original bike lanes still exist, but a lasting redesign of these two key Midtown avenues has seemed out of reach -- until now.
October 20, 2014
Council Members Van Bramer, Levin Come Out on Top in TA Report Card
Which members of the City Council have made transportation a priority this term? A new report card from Transportation Alternatives [PDF] ranks each borough's delegation on whether its members sponsored 15 key transportation bills and resolutions signed by the mayor in the first six months of 2014. It found that, while a majority of council members are working for street safety, a smaller number have carried the banner for livable streets by sponsoring multiple pieces of legislation so far this year.
August 27, 2014
Sunnyside Becomes a Bike-Friendly Business District
Transportation Alternatives has been working all across NYC to foster goodwill for bicycling in the business community. Recently, TA has begun to award Bike-Friendly Business District designations in neighborhoods where local merchants support bicycling and safer streets. The first one outside Manhattan is Sunnyside, Queens.
August 25, 2014
TA Vision Zero Report: NYPD Traffic Enforcement Up, But Wildly Uneven
NYPD increased enforcement of dangerous traffic violations during the first six months of the city's Vision Zero initiative, but enforcement varied drastically from precinct to precinct, with some issuing fewer summonses than last year.
July 31, 2014
Tell Albany Where You’d Like to See Traffic Enforcement Cameras
With Mayor de Blasio looking to gain home rule over NYC's red light and speed cameras as part of the Vision Zero Action Plan, Transportation Alternatives wants to take your requests for camera locations to Albany.
March 18, 2014
Fixing Jay Street Starts With Cracking Down on Illegal Parking
Jay Street, the north-south route often overshadowed by nearby car-clogged Adams Street and Flatbush Avenue, is a major artery in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn, flush with pedestrians going to and from the subway and cyclists heading to the Manhattan Bridge. It's also overrun with illegally-parked drivers, creating an obstacle course for anyone trying to navigate the street.
March 11, 2014
Two Events This Weekend Build on Momentum for Safer Queens Streets
There are a couple of events focusing on safer streets in Queens this weekend.
February 7, 2014