The city will kick off construction next week on the redesign of nearly two miles of Third Avenue on the Upper East Side, adding bus and protected bike lanes to the car-centric stretch.
The Department of Transportation, which announced the plan in October, will be repurposing two of the five northbound vehicle travel lanes currently occupying the roadway between 59th and 96th streets. The lanes will make way for a dedicated bus lane and a parking-protected bike lane, plus other infrastructure like pedestrian islands.
“This project will be transformational for Third Avenue, prioritizing the safety and mobility of all New Yorkers,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “Building a Complete Street featuring a dedicated bus lane, protected bike lane, and pedestrian islands is about putting people first.”
Third Avenue is regarded by DOT as a “Vision Zero priority corridor” due to its car-centric design — at 70 feet, it’s wider than most Manhattan avenues — and its history of fatalities and injuries among pedestrians and cyclists. Twelve pedestrians and one cyclist have been killed along the nearly two-mile stretch over the past decade, according to NYC Crash Mapper.
The new bike lanes are between nine and eleven feet wide at various points, which is bulkier than most of the city’s protected bike lanes, according to DOT.
Those riding buses on Third Avenue have also borne the brunt of its current design: the M102, which runs northbound on Third Avenue, was declared the slowest bus in the city last year by the Straphangers Campaign, traveling at a pathetic 4.6 miles per hour.
The redesign will also add two new “layover” areas for delivery workers at 84th and 86th streets, where the bike messengers can rest or wait for more deliveries. Chick Fil-a has opened a rest hub for deliveristas on the Upper East Side, but similar efforts by the city in other neighborhoods like the Upper West Side and Fordham have been thwarted by community pushback.
Read more: New Pedestrian Plaza Opens on Brooklyn’s Underhill Avenue
