Riding a Citibike in New York City can be scary, especially in rush hour. I was in the city recently for a conference and dealing with the trucks and big black cars was hard enough, but the hardest part was riding down Seventh Ave and dealing with people walking in the street. It was clear that they were there because the sidewalks are just too crowded to cope.
Winnie Hu of the New York Times covered the subject recently, in New York’s sidewalks are so packed, that pedestrians are taking to the streets.
But it is not just New York, it is every successful city. In a post earlier this year, Walking is transportation too, I noted some statistics:
© John Massengale
But people can be squeezed and cars can’t, so the sidewalks were removed, as shown in John Massengale’s great photo comparison of Lexington Avenue. Streetsblog points to a 2009 article in the Times describe similar changes to 5th Avenue:
© New York Times archives
On Streetsblog, Ben Fried calls for change. “What New York needs now is to take entire lanes reserved for motor vehicles in Midtown and repurpose them for wider sidewalks.”
Taras Grescoe/Screen capture
He’s right; the cars have dominated our roads for a century and it’s enough already. As Taras Grescoe notes, we need a little more 19th century transportation (including walking). Perhaps it is time for some more 19th century planning, and making our sidewalks promenades again.
