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Commissioner Sadik-Khan's monthly letter to DOT staff and the residents of New York City.
I am thrilled to report that New York City’s streets are safer than they’ve ever been in the city’s recorded history. Since 2001, traffic-related deaths have plunged 35%, culminating in this historic milestone. In fact, 2009 is the safest year since 1910 when the City first tracked traffic fatalities, and when horses-and-buggies shared the streets of New York with the first automobiles. And while we have to be encouraged by these numbers, we can never take for granted our hard-won safety gains, and we must continue to make improvements. We will aggressively continue to engineer our streets for the safety of everyone who uses them.
In the past year DOT has made many changes big and small to our City streets. While projects like the transformation of Times and Herald Squares grab headlines, there are many others that touch the lives of New Yorkers in neighborhoods across the five boroughs. Since its beginning in 2008, DOT's Urban Art Program has facilitated the installation of 25 temporary art projects. Some of these installations have been very temporary performances lasting a few hours to a week, while others are displayed for up to 11 months. With very small investments, these programs enhance our city's streets and make them more inviting places. Photos from the Urban Art Program, which we look forward to expanding in 2010, are on display on DOT's very own Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycstreets/.
Building and maintaining strong relationships with our customers, the residents of New York, is a vital part of the process we use as we implement all of our projects. During any given month our staff attends nearly 200 community meetings, gathering input on new projects, listening to community concerns and providing updates on projects in the works. Thousands of people learn about our current projects from our website. Each day we take up the challenge of continuing to look for ways to work with the people of New York and together make our streets the safest and most sustainable in the world.
In 2008 we released Sustainable Streets, the first ever strategic business plan for NYCDOT. People from across the agency helped us to develop goals and more than 164 detailed actions to meet those goals. I am proud to announce that we are making progress on every single one of those goals.
We recently had the honor of hosting the 10th Annual Walk21 Conference, bringing together some of the leading minds on transportation policy for three days of discussions on how to effectively create more sustainable communities — ones where walking is a safe, simple way for people to get around. While New York City is already one of the most pedestrian-friendly places in the world, the conference gave us an opportunity to hear about steps other cities are taking to improve their streets for pedestrians and learn about new ideas that might help us make New York an even more livable, walkable community.
Next week, discussions about tackling climate change will be front and center worldwide as Climate Week kicks off. As the host city, all eyes will be on New York and its efforts championing sustainable practices. Thanks to the ambitious goals mapped out in Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative, New York is seizing opportunities to define the role of cities in the 21st century and leading the charge against global warming.
Summer Streets is back for its second year and, based on the public response so far, it's better than ever. Last year over 50,000 people came to Summer Streets each week and this year there may be even more people walking, running, biking, and skating along seven miles of open streets. Summer Streets has quickly become a New York tradition in just its second year. The success of Summer Streets and Weekend Walks demonstrates that, by simply rethinking our public space, New Yorkers are happy to use their streets in a different way.
DOT will soon complete the task of creating the 200 new miles of bike lanes that was announced in September 2006. The program has transformed City streets in a subtle but profound way. It has created a much more interconnected and safer cycling system, and that has led to big increases in bicycling. The bike lane program’s implementation has touched neighborhoods across the city. We know of no other city that has ever attempted such an ambitious expansion of their bicycle network in such a short time, never mind completed it on time.
Visitors from around the country and the world have come in the past month to tour our public plazas, learn about our innovative bike facilities and hear how we have been able to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. Commissioner Sadik-Khan thanks DOT staff for their hard work and dedication as we start to evaluate our one-year progress on our strategic plan.
As it cuts across the avenues, Broadway causes complicated intersections, delays traffic movement through midtown and compromises the safety of the people who travel along it. The "Green Light for Midtown" plan will work with the grid instead of against it, correcting the complicated intersections that create traffic congestion, while creating enough space to enhance safety. DOT staff will be hard at work transforming this historic corridor from late spring through the summer.
The stimulus bill signed by President Obama provides significant funds for DOT's work, and we've identified projects around the city that can benefit from them. The projects we select will be fast-tracked to avoid losing funds to other parts of the state — or even to other states. Getting these projects in the ground will get the men and women of the construction industry back to work that much faster. They also are an investment in a stronger city in the future.
Our work in taking street space that used to belong to motorists and turning it into plazas, bike lanes and more public space yields both environmental and economic returns. Studies have shown that investments in streetscapes, bike lanes and public plazas can do well by both the economy and the environment.
While we are in a time of crisis, we also have an opportunity to make a huge investment in our transportation infrastructure. But we must invest wisely to build a green infrastructure and one that can compete in the 21st Century. DOT has already identified over $1 billion worth of repair and maintenance projects that are ready to be contracted with a few months.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan reflects on the many new DOT projects in every borough that are transforming our streets to improve safety and fight congestion, and thanks her dedicated team of employees.
New York will play host to the world's largest gathering of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) leaders, policy makers and other industry professionals at the ITS World Congress from November 16 - 20. Bringing the ITS World Congress to New York City is part of DOT's continuing efforts to stay at the forefront of the transportation industry and part of our strategic plan to maintain a global leadership role.
As the President of NACTO - the National Association of City Transportation Officials - Commissioner Sadik-Khan has taken a leading role in the federal debate over meeting the needs of our nation's transportation infrastructure. NACTO released its platform for the next federal transportation bill. We will fight for a new federal bill that provides the funding needed to truly support city transportation systems across the country, the lifeblood of our economy.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan describes how DOT responds to truck accidents on the City's bridges and highways and how we are taking steps to prevent such incidents.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan updates DOT's progress and ongoing efforts to keep New York City's roadways and bridges in a state of good repair.
DOT launched the NYC Plaza Program, an open space initiative in which DOT will work with community partners to create neighborhood plazas throughout the City. We will do this by transforming underused streets into vibrant, public spaces. The NYC Plaza Program is a new element in our strategy to re-invent New York City’s public realm.
On April 28, Commissioner Sadik-Khan released the DOT's new Strategic Plan, "Sustainable Streets," at an overflowing reception at the Municipal Art Society's Urban Center on Madison Avenue. The plan is our handbook for taking transportation in New York City to new heights. The 70-page plan is structured around a set of visions, policies and actions that define DOT's priorities and will guide our actions in the coming years. The plan's seven chapters are followed by a detailed set of benchmarks that both DOT personnel and the public can and should refer to, both as we launch new initiatives and as we tend to our day-to-day responsibilities.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan describes DOT's activities during National Work Zone Awareness Week, an annual observance to raise attention about the need for greater safety for workers on our streets and bridges. An alarming number of motor vehicle crashes occur in work zones nationwide. There were 1,010 fatalities in 2006. An additional 40,000 people are injured in work zones each year.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan discusses PlaNYC, a plan for the long-term sustainability of New York City, and the most controversial, seemingly most challenging initiative in PlaNYC -implementing congestion pricing.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan describes DOT's plan to make our streets work better for buses through the Bus Rapid Transit and Bus Mobility Demonstration Program, which will provide faster, more reliable, and more attractive bus service on routes across the City.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan and other DOT officials spoke at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board about New York City’s initiatives to manage transportation and congestion, which have placed NYC DOT on the cutting edge of transportation innovation.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan describes DOT's street furniture program, including new bus shelters, newsstands, sheltered bike parking structures and the first automatic public toilet in New York City.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan reflects on her first six months leading DOT.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan discusses DOT's use of ITS technology to advance our transportation programs.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan discusses DOT's multi-faceted approach to safety on New York City streets.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan discusses DOT's progress and ongoing efforts to keep New York City's roadways and bridges in a state of good repair.
Read Commissioner Sadik-Khan’s testimony on bridge safety before the City Council Committee on Transportation, September 17, 2007.
Commissioner Sadik-Khan describes the City's plans to expand private ferry service and to make environmental improvements in ferry operations.
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