“Greening” city streets: NYC and others should follow

[JMKeynes]

I love this development for the Champs Elysee. New York, in particular, should follow. It needs less traffic lanes, no parking on avenues, and therefore, more green space.

Even D.C., which is pretty green, should eliminate lanes on traffic on thoroughfares like Pennsylvania Avenue.

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/01/12/ch...y62KXA3Bk6foLI

[Skintreesnail]

Lots of opportunity for something like this on the ben franklin parkway in philly. The views might be impressive but the pedestrian experience is pretty awful. 6 lanes of traffic in the center and 4 outer lanes makes a really stressful crossing, especially during times of heavy usage when people are treating it like a highway. There are also parts closer to the art museum that lack adequate crossings and folks are left needing to sprint across in front of incoming traffic. To be fair there have been some improvements made over the last few years but it could be so much better.


https://www.visitphilly.com/things-t...nklin-parkway/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Parkway

[iheartthed]

The pandemic sped this along in New York. Many streets were shutdown to vehicular traffic in order to allow restaurants and bars to set up seating outdoors. There is a push to make this a permanent change in some areas.

[MonkeyRonin]

This is basically what's going to be happening with Yonge St. in Toronto:

Originally Posted by Maldive

Plan to rebuild Yonge Street with wider sidewalks, fewer lanes goes to Toronto Council

Toronto Star article: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/202...y-council.html
“...proposal that would make dramatic changes to Yonge, at the same time as Toronto replaces 140-year-old water and sewer infrastructure underneath the street. Once reconstructed, Yonge Street would see dramatically wider sidewalks and the street itself reduced to just two lanes. As well, portions of Yonge would be closed to through traffic during the day in order to prioritize pedestrians and cycling.”

Along with Cadillac Fairview, 250 retailers and tenants are objecting to the reduction of traffic lanes between Dundas and Queen Street East. “the lane reductions would make loading and onloading for curbside pickup impossible and that restrictions on deliveries would be “catastrophic for businesses.”

urbanflight

urbanflight

urbanflight

urbanflight

Existing

urbanflight

[JMKeynes]

The Toronto plan is beautiful.

Sadly, morons in NYC will prevent any such changes by claiming that the impact on traffic will be too adverse.

[JMKeynes]

Miami is onboard.

https://www.thenextmiami.com/the-cur...ewer-approval/

[Crawford]

The Park Ave. medians are being dramatically expanded, so that's a start.

The entirety of Park Ave. in Midtown is being ripped up anyways over the next decade, because the rail yard underneath is being rebuilt.

[JMKeynes]

Originally Posted by Crawford

The Park Ave. medians are being dramatically expanded, so that's a start.

The entirety of Park Ave. in Midtown is being ripped up anyways over the next decade, because the rail yard underneath is being rebuilt.

Way more should be done though.

I think that two lanes should be eliminated from every avenue and the major cross streets (Bowery, Houston, 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 79th, 86th, 96th, and 125th). On each replaced lane, a widened, landscaped sidewalk should be created like Michigan Avenue in Chicago does.

[IrishIllini]

I'd love to see this happen in Chicago to Randolph west of Des Plaines and every inch of Western.

[Northern Light]

Toronto's University Avenue at Present:



Toronto's University Avenue - proposed



There's a bunch of side by side before/after renders here:

https://universitypark.evergreen.ca/

[Northern Light]

Toronto's Yonge St., looking north to Dundas, currently:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.65467...7i16384!8i8192

Proposed:

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

Toronto's University Avenue - proposed



There's a bunch of side by side before/after renders here:

https://universitypark.evergreen.ca/

That's not an actual proposal, just an unsolicited vision from a local architect.

The Yonge St. one is going before council though (and a similar reconstruction was recently approved in the North York section, so I don't see why it wouldn't be approved).

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

That's not an actual proposal, just an unsolicited vision from a local architect.

The Yonge St. one is going before council though (and a similar reconstruction was recently approved in the North York section, so I don't see why it wouldn't be approved).

Yes, that particular variation originates w/Evergreen.......however, the basis of the idea of shifting all the car lanes to the west, and consolidating the median w/the west sidewalk was in fact originated for TO Core, a City Planning exercise.

The matter is the subject of discussion.

Whether it reaches a formal municipal proposal, is TBD.

[streetscaper]

$100M proposal aims to turn Union Square into NYC’s ‘most accessible’ space

Open space around Union Square would increase by more than 33 percent under a new proposal to transform the Manhattan neighborhood into New York City’s “most accessible space.” The Union Square Partnership on Tuesday released a plan that expands Union Square Park by about two acres to the edges around the square and connects landscaped plazas with safe, pedestrian-friendly space.

[mrnyc]

^ thats just basically permanentizing the newish 14st busway.

and as a resident of this street believe me i am all for it!

also, there is a call to make broadway pedestrian only from 59st down. i think that will happen.