The traffic revolution that’s making cities cleaner — and happier |
While walking my son to school a couple of weeks ago, I noticed something odd happening on Court Street, a major thoroughfare that runs through our part of Brooklyn: A lane of the street was being removed, to make room for a protected two-way bike lane.
As a father who would like to see his son bicycle more but lives in constant fear of him being pancaked by an SUV while riding in Brooklyn’s packed streets, I was elated by the change — but also surprised. Even in Brooklyn, one of the most densely populated and walkable places in the US, about half of households own a car — and I can tell you from experience, they are very territorial about their right to drive them.
Yet here was my own neighborhood, taking away a lane for cars and giving it to cyclists. It’s part of an effort spreading across New York and cities around the US and the rest of the world, to carve out meaningful, safe space for residents who prefer to get around on two wheels rather than four. And it’s one of the best, most optimistic movements in urban development, one that can make cities cleaner, quieter, and more sustainable.
Two wheels good; four wheels bad
In central London, as the Economist wrote recently, bikes now outnumber cars two-to-one at peak hours. In Montreal, more than a third of people cycle at least once a week, and use of the city’s bike-share program has doubled since 2019. In Copenhagen, bike trips make up almost half of all commutes. And New York has built the world’s largest bike network, with 1,550 lane miles, 555 protected lanes, and more on the way. With its Citi Bike program, NY has the largest bike-sharing system in the US.
How did we get here? Not by just painting bike lanes on open........