If for no other reason, do it for the politics
Too many streets continue to be optimized for motorized traffic at the expense of non-motorized traffic — in particular, bicycle traffic. We should not allow this to continue to happen.
An example we’ve mentioned before is 34th Street in Manhattan/NYC. It seems whoever is pushing for changes are having a bit of trouble:
Pedestrians who navigate Midtown’s crowded sidewalks won’t get as much as they could have from the proposed 34th Street Transitway. The Times reported last night that NYC DOT will not pursue plans for a pedestrian plaza between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue as part of the project.
But let’s look at the current use of the street — what types of modes does the street currently accommodate?
OK, so bikes aren’t currently allowed to use 34th Street. Fine.
So, the redesigned street is going to allow bikes to use it, right? Maybe we’ll get some sharrows, or a narrow bike lane, or maybe even a buffered bike lane, or maybe what is actually, minimally required, a cycletrack, right?
No. None of that, actually.
This redesign will benefit motorized transport — buses — and pedestrians, and it will do it while keeping cyclists from being able to use this all-important corridor.
So, let’s just put aside the motive question, and let’s not even worry about where this particular design lives on that continuum between incompetence and sadism — instead, let’s just go straight to the politics.
If you actually wanted a street redesign to be implemented, would you:
a) offer a design to allow cyclists to use this street, or
e) prevent cyclists — the city’s most vocal livable streets constituency — from using this street?
Obviously, more than a few folks in New York City thought that e) was the correct answer. And this is causing problems — there is not enough support for this project.
If you would like to bike around New York City, and in particular, Manhattan, are you going to go out of your way to get excited about and support a street redesign which prioritizes motorized transport over cycling, and which may, in fact, actually legally prevent you from riding your bike on 34th Street in the future? You are already barred, practically-speaking, from using this street, but you’re going to go out of your way to support a project which will continue to bar you from using this street?
Of course, not.
In fact, you could even decide to, for several good reasons, oppose this project. As we know, any project that attempts to force people to ride the bus without offering them a dignified alternative is going to produce a heap of problems — namely, automobile traffic, angrier drivers, less political support for continued street improvements, etc.
This same process is playing out all over America — in San Francisco, in Los Angeles, etc.
The lesson?
Even if you despise cyclists and cycling with the very core of your being, if you want to get your project implemented, then consider allowing cyclists to use the redesigned street. If for no other reason, do it for the politics.
