Mayor Bill de Blasio today released “Green Wave: A Plan for Cycling in New York City” to confront the rise in cycling fatalities in 2019. As cycling continues to grow dramatically, the $58.4 million plan combines design, enforcement, legislation, policy and education to make the City’s streets safer for cyclists -- and all street users. With fatalities heavily concentrated this year in Brooklyn, the Mayor unveiled the plan in Bay Ridge, a neighborhood that this year will receive its first on-street protected lanes along 7th Avenue. The Mayor separately announced that as part of the accelerated expansion of the protected bike lane network, DOT would this year install a two-way protected bicycle lane along Dyckman Street in Washington Heights.
“When we came into office we promised New Yorkers we’d do everything we could to end traffic fatalities,” said Mayor de Blasio. “No loss of life on our streets is acceptable. With a dangerous surge in cyclist fatalities, we have to keep pushing the envelope and increasing our efforts. That’s what this plan is about. It’s a continuation of our promise. This time, specifically to bikers. We are here to protect you and we take that job seriously. We will not stop until we have finally reached Vision Zero.”
“Thanks to the Mayor’s leadership and the effective work of so many in the advocacy community, we are proud to present the “Green Wave” plan today,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “We have assembled a long and aggressive to-do list that we think that can change this year’s tragic increase in cyclist fatalities – and encourage even more New Yorkers to get on bicycles.”
To learn more, please read the full press release.
To read the "Green Wave" report, please visit the "Resource" tab.