More about the return of the 14th Street busway; 12th and 13th street bike lanes now permanent

As you probably heard, Mayor de Blasio announced yesterday that the city will try an "experimental new transit improvement" on 14th Street starting in June as a way to keep people moving during the starts-tomorrow-evening L-train slowdown.

Beginning in June, there will be four lanes of traffic (two in each direction) along with a new M14 Select Bus Service. Buses, trucks and emergency vehicles will be given priority in the center lanes on 14th Street from Third Avenue to Ninth Avenue. There won't be any through traffic for cars, private vehicles will still be able to use 14th Street, but only for pick-ups and drop-offs — or for accessing garages along the six-block stretch.

This restriction is expected to last for 18 months during the repairs on the Sandy-damaged L tubes.


[Click on image to go big]

City agencies had already taken the first steps to make 14th Street a car-free busway. However, with the full L-train shutdown called off by Gov. Cuomo in early January, those plans were put on hold.

In addition, the city announced yesterday that the bike lanes on 12th Street and 13th Street, which arrived last fall in anticipation of a full L-train shutdown, will be made permanent.

Here's some of the more relevant information for East Village residents via the city's news release:

• 14th Street Transit/Truck Priority (TTP) – The MTA and DOT announced earlier this year that M14 SBS would be coming to the 14th Street corridor in 2019; the corridor carries one of the most intensely used bus routes in the city, with the M14A/D carrying 27,000 daily riders and providing a critical connection from the Lower East Side to Union Square and the Meatpacking District.

To make sure these buses move quickly and reliably, DOT studied international best practice for busy transit corridors, including along King Street in downtown Toronto, where in 2017, new regulations that prioritized transit and pedestrian uses were piloted along a major streetcar route. The Toronto changes, popular with transit riders, dramatically reduced travel times and increased safety along the corridor — and have been since made permanent.

Working with MTA, DOT will pilot a similar arrangement on 14th Street. Starting later this spring, the new TTP changes will include:

-Only buses, trucks and emergency vehicles will be able to use 14th Street between 3rd and 9th Avenues as a through route.

-Local traffic will still be permitted to make pickups and drop-offs along the corridor and access garages, but cars will always need to turn right at the next possible location. Left turns will not be allowed.

-New curbside regulations will prioritize short-term loading and passenger pickup activity.

-Intersections along 14th Street will be designed with new turn lanes where appropriate to ensure that bus lanes will remain clear. Intersections will also receive Vision Zero treatments, including painted curb extensions that enhance pedestrian safety.

The new design builds on proposals made during the original L train planning process, but also incorporates key feedback from local residents to ensure that curb access remained available, and that through truck traffic not be diverted to local streets.

Construction will begin this spring for completion in time for the launch of the M14 SBS in June. During that time, DOT will conduct significant outreach to stakeholders, including the five different community boards served by 14th Street. This will be accompanied by educational campaigns for the people who use 14th Street.

DOT expects to enforce the new TTP lanes through automated cameras along 14th Street. The agency will publicly announce the commencement of camera enforcement, which will not begin until at least 60 days after the new SBS route is established.

[Early-morning look at the 12th Street bike lane before it's a loading zone]

In other news...

• 12th Street/13th Street Protected Bike Lanes – DOT will also pursue permanently retaining bike lanes it had installed in 2018 along 12th and 13th Streets. Since being painted last fall, cyclist usage of the nearly three miles of new protected lanes over the winter has outpaced bike counts from last summer. The new lanes have become a part of the agency’s crosstown protected bicycle lane strategy ... In response to community concerns, more delineators and loading zones will be added.

We'll have more about these bike lanes in another (future) post.

For some analysis and reaction to yesterday's announcement, you can read this piece by Vin Barone, who first broke this story, over at amNY. There's more reaction at Streetsblog.

Meanwhile, there's no word yet about which M14A/D stops along Avenue A and Avenue D might be eliminated to speed up the notoriously slow bus routes. There is opposition to the MTA's plan to cut back on local bus stops.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Prepping for the new protected bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets

Bike lane line work continues on 12th Street

DOT puts down the green paint on the new 13th Street bike lane (except for one mysterious spot)