The current NYC DOT proposal calls for a new type of bike lane with a 9-foot bidirectional bike corridor directly against the north sidewalk, moves all parking to the south side only, and removes every standing zone on the north side of the block. Here is what that creates on the ground.
Looking west. The bike lanes sit directly against the north sidewalk — where every lobby door on the block opens.
West 72nd Street between Central Park West and Broadway is one of the Upper West Side's densest residential corridors — pre-war co-ops, medical offices, ground-floor businesses, three schools within four blocks, and the eastern end opening directly onto Central Park.
The buildings on the north side of W 72nd Street are home to a significant population of elderly residents, people with mobility needs, and families with young children.
Today, someone with a walker can step out of her lobby and directly into a waiting car, ambulette, or Access-A-Ride. Under the proposal, every trip off the block becomes a multi-lane obstacle course:
That crossing is not a one-time event. It happens on the way to every medical appointment, every grocery delivery, every ride home. The cumulative risk is what this plan asks our most vulnerable neighbors to absorb, every day, for the rest of their lives on this block.
Based on an informal survey of the north-side buildings. Numbers are illustrative of typical Upper West Side pre-war and post-war buildings on the block.
One rideshare + no standing zone = the whole corridor stops moving.
The proposed layout leaves zero standing zones on either side of 72nd Street. With only one lane of through traffic, every stopped vehicle becomes a wall.
The practical outcome is predictable:
Car service is not a convenience for many of our neighbors — it is their only way of getting to a doctor, a pharmacy, or a family dinner. The plan as drawn removes it.
Today, emergency vehicles can pass double-parked cars and deliveries by using an adjacent lane. Under the proposal, there is no adjacent lane.
One stopped UPS truck, one stalled car, one idling rideshare — and FDNY and EMS are behind it until it moves. On a block with a significant number of elderly and medically vulnerable residents, even a 60-second delay matters:
The proposal reduces passing capacity on a corridor that already sees regular emergency calls. That is a cost the plan does not acknowledge — and one the residents who would absorb it were never asked about.
Emergency response timing is not a theoretical concern on a block with this demographic.
The current proposal was presented to the public as consulted, studied, and evidence-based. When coalition members went to verify each of those claims, the record looked very different.
— from DOT's public presentation on the redesign
What actually happened
Our coalition canvassed every co-op board, condominium, rental building, ground-floor business, and residents' association on W 72nd between Central Park West and Broadway. None reported a direct meeting, outreach letter, or briefing from DOT before the plan was released. The "engagement" DOT cites consists of citywide online workshops and borough-level public notices — formats that, by design, never put the plan in front of the people who would live with it.
— DOT's standard framing in community presentations
What actually happened
The traffic counts, pedestrian flow data, and curb-activity observations that inform the proposal were collected in 2020 and 2021 — during pandemic-era closures. Restaurants were shuttered, in-person schools suspended, ambulette bookings at decade lows, and a meaningful share of residents had temporarily left the city. A block that today sees several hundred rideshare, ambulette, and delivery stops a day was measured when the curb was effectively empty. Any design built on those counts inherits that distortion.
— the safety rationale DOT leans on most heavily
What actually happened
That claim was made based on a study that looked at one kind of bike lane: a one-way, curb-side protected lane. These lanes have been implemented safely on thousands of streets across the city. Bidirectional bike lanes have been implemented only a couple of times in New York City, and never on a block as densely populated with elderly and disabled people as West 72nd Street.
"Consulted, studied, evidence-based" is the standard a plan like this should meet. We are asking DOT to actually meet it before this one is built.
— Pause. Study. Ask. Then redesign.
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