Midtown Bike Lane Coming Soon To 6th Avenue, DOT Says

MIDTOWN, NY — A new bike lane will be installed this month along Sixth Avenue between West 35th Street and Central Park South, along with a number of other pedestrian safety improvements, city officials announced Monday.

The parking-protected bike lane will run along the west side of the avenue. Construction will begin this month, the Department of Transportation said, although it did not specify when it will be completed.

Plans for the lane were first announced in June as part of the city's open streets initiative, which also included a planned bike lane on Seventh Avenue from 47th Street up to 59th Street.

The move is an apparent victory for bike advocates, as well as Midtown City Councilmember Keith Powers, who both called on the city in January to extend Sixth Avenue's protected lanes all the way to Central Park, past their current terminus at 33rd Street.

The project will include other safety measures including new pedestrian islands, left turn lanes and signals at some intersections, and Leading Pedestrian Intervals, in which pedestrian walk signs appear before car traffic gets a green light.

This month, DOT will begin a safety improvement project on 6th Ave between W. 35th St and Central Park West in #Manhattan. This project will:

Add parking-protected #BikeNYC lane
Increase pedestrian safety
Update curb regulations
Create safer, slower left turns pic.twitter.com/uWJQzX6L3D
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) August 17, 2020

Advocates in January said the lack of protected lanes on Sixth Avenue was "embarrassing," noting that the busy thoroughfare became especially unsafe for cyclists past Herald Square, where the lanes became unprotected. At 42nd Street, the bike infrastructures ends completely.

Commercial cyclists like delivery workers and bike messengers were left especially at risk by the lack of protected lanes, which were typically clogged with vehicle traffic in pre-pandemic times, the advocates noted.

The city in June said it planned to add nine new miles of bike lanes throughout the summer as part of the 100 miles of streets being opened to pedestrians and cyclists during the coronavirus pandemic.