Yesterday was a great day out and about in Manhattan enjoying car-free streets. 🤩 📍 Hudson Square Plaza 📍 Lower East Side Open Streets
Mike Lydon
@mikelydon.bsky.social
Co-Founder @ Street Plans | Co-Author #TacticalUrbanism, Smart Growth Manual, Streets for Pandemic Response + Recovery | Board Member @ Congress for New Urbanism | Creator Open_Streets Project | Léo + Luca’s dad | 📍 Brooklyn, NY 🚲 🚶 🚌 🌆
Good take here on better preparing for the increased cycling/walking that inevitably comes to rezoned corridors like Kent Avenue. Not discussed is the major miss of not requiring all of the upzonings to build out the Brooklyn Greenway, including wider sidewalks. nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/07/31/e...
Eyes on the Street: It Is Time For Kent Avenue To Be Car-Free - Streetsblog New York City
The Kent Avenue bike lane has become a victim of its own success, so we put some eyes on the street.
nyc.streetsblog.org
I love this image of our Slow Streets project in Miami Beach because it shows the difference in scale between the geometry of the motor vehicle and the geometry of active transportation. When we favor the latter, everything from crosswalk size to lane widths get smaller, more spatially efficient.
The constant (and loud) drumbeat of technological advancement takes up sooooooo much oxygen, so when I walk around NYC or travel I look for low-tech, human responses to everyday challenges that make me smile. Here are four I earlier this in Italy.
“Cities have often been discussed as the laboratories of democracy — we can actually show that this isn’t a fantasy.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/m...
Zohran Mamdani Knows He Has Political Capital. And He Intends to Spend It.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro sits down for an interview with the mayor of New York City.
nytimes.com
Somerville, MA is the latest proof that tools are available to reduce traffic violence. Officials just need to prioritize established best practices for road safety, including more speed bumps, more visible crosswalks, and better bike lanes. Learn more about Somerville's recent success ⤵️
This New England City Hasn't Had a Traffic Death in Three Years
Somerville, Mass., officials say their success is rooted in tried-and-true best practices for traffic safety.
governing.com
I was awestruck by Matera, Italy. Considered the 3rd oldest city on earth, residents lived in hand dug caves, which have been added retrofitted for centuries. Poor conditions and disease forced the removal of 15k inhabitants in the 1950s. A UNESCO designation in 1990s opened the door to restoration🤯
Where formal public seating goes missing, shaded steps fill the void.
Lecce’s bike infrastructure is a hodge podge of built-for-purpose protected bikeways and sidewalks retrofitted with small markings or different colored pavers to allow cycling.
I love to spotlight good old fashioned American traffic-calming know-how when I see it. This is Perth Amboy, NJ where 8’ travel lanes along West Side Ave create a classic ‘yield street’ condition. We should have never stopped building low-volume urban streets like this.
Every so often you can squint and feel like NYC is a world-class cycling city.
Still incomplete and still not perfect but the new Brooklyn Bridge-Centre Street bikeway link is a symbol of the no issue too small, can-do spirit of the mayoral new administration. #BikeNYC
"...his is a new era for New York City and no longer will we allow the whims of the few to come before the well-being of the many.”
McGuinness Makeover Begins in Greenpoint After Years of Street-Redesign Scandal
Prosecutors charged local power players last year with bribing Adams administration officials to slow the Brooklyn boulevard remake.
thecity.nyc
Helped my youngest build a bench today, using only 2 2x4s for a bus stop on the 38. He painted it some fun colors too!
Found these gems on display at the Museum of the City of New York today.
This is all you need to know about what a disaster of a venue MetLife Stadium is for all events, not just FIFA. 😑
Turning bus stops into micro forests is possible simply by bumping out the curb for in-lane stops. Shade ✅ Shelter ✅ Stormwater capture ✅ Smoother bus ops ✅
Checking in on some of our Meatpacking District projects, which are starting to feel like they were always meant to be there.
Same promo code ☝️ should work on Tactical Urbanism @mikelydon.bsky.social transit advocacy book @carterlavin.bsky.social Killed by a Traffic Engineer @wesmarshall.bsky.social When Driving is not an Option @nondriver.bsky.social Curbing Traffic @modacitylife.com #NACTO26
Talking parks, advocacy, funding and open streets! Thanks for always bringing the community together, @kathyparkprice.bsky.social!
Traffic-calming is good; reducing actual driving is great. Go for great.
Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 3mo agoThose microplastics from tires and such don’t just pollute & prematurely kill us. They’re also fuelling the climate crisis. Scientists found that “tiny, colored plastic particles absorb sunlight as winds blow them around the world, trapping heat and contributing to temperature rise.” #ClimateCrisis
Reading between the lines of recent @nyc-dot.bsky.social community board presentations reveals a more confident agency under Mayor Mamdani than under Adams, with DOT actively pushing back against overblown and downright false narratives that bike lanes worsen traffic or block first responders.
Jersey City’s pedestrian-only Newark Avenue was thriving tonight because no cars + good weather = good economic and social outcomes.
It’s high time we create a comfortable Brooklyn Bridge gateway in DUMBO with seating and increased sidewalk space.
