Back in 1811, city officials did something remarkable when they instituted a rectangular street grid. Unlike the confusing twisty streets found in Lower Manhattan, a more orderly system that one critic called a “primal topographic curse,” would forever alter the development of NYC and most importantly, give residents the twice a year urban-solar phenomenon know as Manhattanhenge. Someone—the Illuminati?—clearly knew what they were doing. (Photo: Marina Galperina/ANIMALNewYork)
If it’s any consolation to commuters in New York who think their daily trek to work is hellish, drivers in Beijing, Mexico City, and Moscow are way more miserable according to IBM’s 2010 Commuter Pain survey. Out of the 20 cities that were rated, a whopping 40% said they spent more than three hours or more stuck in traffic. See the rankings here or click for a fun infographic.
Wait till the Post’s resident hag hears about another proposal by the city to reduce congestion and establish more public plazas. The DOT is proposing a slightly radical new design for the hellish conditions on 34th Street that separate buses from other traffic, and gives them their own lane to operate more efficiently in. |Streets Blog|
As Curbed notes, this hyper strange “system of modular floating docks designed to harness energy from the tidal action of New York City’s rivers” will probably never be built, but look how cool the renderings are anyway. |Curbed|
As Curbed notes, the concepts submitted for the Red Hook Bicycle Design Master Plan Competition “may never happen” but rendering are always fun to look at anyway, these ones especially. Many of the designs are high impressive, others not so much. |Curbed|
After increasing the amount of bike lanes and getting designers to submit concepts for bike racks, the city continues to explore long term proposals to promote cycling. At the heart of the plan, is a zoning requirement mandating increased parking for bicycles at home and at work: virtually all new buildings will be obligated to provide storage. The ultimate goal is “doubling bicycle commuting by 2015 and tripling it by 2020,” according to the Department of City Planning.
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