The city continued to pursue its plan to widen the medians along 11 blocks of Park Avenue north of Grand Central Terminal – a project the city calls “bringing the ‘Park’ back to Park Avenue.” But cycling advocates are concerned that the city is missing a unique opportunity to create a protected bike lane on the transit-free corridor.
On Tuesday, Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodríguez said the city has issued a request for proposals to redesign and widen the medians between 46th and 57th streets, areas that used to be great places to walk and relax until they were narrowed for the convenience of motorists.
“We want to redefine iconic Park Avenue as a greener, safer and more welcoming corridor for all New Yorkers,” Rodriguez said at a press conference on East 51st Street.
As Rodríguez and other government officials spoke, however, some of those same New Yorkers — cyclists and scooter riders — rode by unprotected in the Avenue’s travel lanes. Streetsblog asked Rodriguez if the city would consider a protected bike lane, given the obvious need for a safe route for non-car drivers. The commissioner would not commit to anything other than widening the median by 20 feet — which could require repurposing two car lanes (not that he said that).
“All ideas are welcome,” Rodríguez told Streetsblog. “There is no doubt that the number of cyclists using bicycles and e-bikes and using bicycles to deliver food, since we make these orders when we are resting in our homes, is very important. So, as a city, we also understand that in everything we do, we should always include feedback on expanding space for cyclists.”
The Park Avenue stretch could be a key link in a robust bike network for Manhattan’s east side. Currently, there are no protected bike lanes between East 26th and 58th Streets west of Second Avenue and east of Sixth Avenue. Proponents hope a protected bike lane will be part of the design to fill that gap.
“Look at the bike map. There is no bike lane in that 50 and 40 section between Second Avenue and Sixth Avenue,” said Jon Orcutt, Bike New York’s advocacy director and a former DOT official. “It’s time for the East Side to sacrifice for the team.”
The Department of Transportation has been talking about redesigning Park Avenue between Grand Central Terminal and 57th Street since 2017, when a real estate company launched a design competition. However, some proposals resembled futuristic shopping malls rather than a people-centered urban space.
Then in 2020, the Department of Transportation quietly released a questionnaire that included four possible designs, but it disappeared from the agency’s website. In 2022, median widening was mentioned as a future project in a state-city plan called “Making New York Work For Everyone,” putting it back on the map.
Any widening of the median would restore at least in part the appearance of Park Avenue in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the wide median drew pedestrians and walkers from all over the city, if not the world. Immortalized on countless sepia postcards, it was considered one of New York’s top attractions and compared to the grandest boulevards of Paris.
In 1927, however, much of this area was lost to the increasing car traffic when the road was widened. Since then, the road has become a dirty car cesspool, a nuisance for residents and businesses, and dangerous for pedestrians.
Now it’s especially ripe for a makeover, as the MTA is currently renovating the roofing over several commuter rail tracks that run under Park Avenue. It’s also one of the few streets in Manhattan without a bus line. And Orcutt pointed out that a bike lane, if installed, would only be 11 blocks long, but you have to start somewhere.
“The Department of Transportation’s strategy has always been to build a section (of new bike lane) and then create demand for its extension,” he said, mentioning the new bike lane on Third Avenue north of 58th Street. “It’s an underused section, but it’s obvious what should be done next. This gives the city a great opportunity to create a model section of Park Avenue.”
In a series of speeches, only one politician in attendance mentioned the bicycle: Representative Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) said he wanted to make Park Avenue more inviting for cycling.
“This redesign will also help promote more sustainable transportation options like Citi Bike to reduce emissions and limit car traffic in the area,” he said.
The city’s tender, which the Department of Transportation declined to make available to journalists, will run for four weeks and is open only to women- and minority-owned businesses. After the Department of Transportation selects a bidder early next year, a lengthy public input process will begin.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Orcutt said. “If they rebuild (the locomotive hall), it will be standing for another century.”
