New York City's Bike-Lane Drama: Lawsuits, Busways, and a Stalled Streets Plan

New York might be the original “bike lane war” city. Over the last 15 years, it has gone from a handful of painted lanes to one of the largest protected networks in North America, with riders and crashes to match. But every big step has come with drama: lawsuits over flagship projects, apocalyptic congestion forecasts, a mayor who fell short of legal mandates, and now a new mayor-elect promising a very different approach.

This piece walks through the key storylines: the early legal fights that set precedent, the busway battles that tested congestion myths, the tug-of-war between the city’s Streets Plan law and Mayor Eric Adams’s hesitant implementation, and what the election of car-free Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani might mean for the city’s next chapter.

1. From “radical” bike lanes to a legal mandate

New York’s modern bike boom really starts under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and continues under Bill de Blasio. Between 2007 and 2011, the city built just 25 miles of protected bike lanes. In the last five years alone, it added roughly 148 miles—half of all protected miles ever installed in the city.The New Bicycle Blueprint, Transportation Alternatives

In 2019, the City Council tried to lock that trajectory in by passing the NYC Streets Plan law, which mandates by 2030:

• 250 miles of protected bike lanes (at least 30 miles in 2022, and at least 50 miles per year afterwards)
• 150 miles of physically or camera-protected bus lanes
• Major expansions of pedestrian space and transit-signal priority

Transportation Alternatives’ Protected Bike Lane Tracker shows how ambitious that is: the law requires 30 miles of protected lanes in 2022 and 50 miles in each subsequent year.Protected Bike Lane Tracker

So far, the Adams administration has not kept pace. Streetsblog’s review of the city’s own reports found that in 2022 and 2023, New York built well under the required miles of protected bike and bus lanes, missing the legal targets for two years running.In 2023, Mayor Adams Basically Erased the ‘Streets Master Plan’ A later DOT “Streets Plan” status update admitted it had installed only 58.2 miles of protected bike lanes (about 72% of the requirement) and just 9.6 miles of bus lanes—about 19% of what the law requires.DOT Spins Bus- and Bike-Lane Failure as ‘Streets Plan’ Success

An outside summary at Planetizen put it bluntly: the Streets Plan has “remained largely on paper” during Adams’s early years, despite the legal mandate.NYC Streets Plan Remains Largely on Paper

At the same time, DOT press releases emphasize “historic” progress. A March 2025 update boasts that the three-year average for new protected bike lane miles is 29.1 miles per year, a 10% increase over the final years of de Blasio.NYC DOT Highlights Historic Street Safety and Accessibility Improvements Both things can be true: Adams is building more than his predecessor—but still not enough to comply with the law he inherited.

2. Prospect Park West: the original “bike war”

If Toronto’s Bill 212 fight is the new template, Prospect Park West (PPW) is the original.

Before redesign, PPW was a wide, three-lane one-way boulevard next to the park, with chronic speeding. In 2009, DOT clocked that around 70–76% of drivers were exceeding 30 mph, with 85th-percentile speeds over 37–42 mph depending on time of day.Prospect Park West Bicycle Path and Traffic Calming – NYC DOT (2009) Residents complained about dangerous crossings, double-parking, and “highway” speeds in a residential neighborhood.

DOT’s 2010 redesign did three things:

• Removed one motor-vehicle lane
• Added a two-way parking-protected bike lane along the park
• Shortened crossings and calmed traffic with new markings and islands

The backlash was immediate and vicious, culminating in a lawsuit filed in 2011 claiming the lane was a “trial” that had run too long, and that DOT had cooked its safety numbers.Judge Rejects Prospect Park West Bike Lane LawsuitBREAKING NEWS: City wins Prospect Park West bike lane suit Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Bert Bunyan dismissed it, ending that round of the fight.

DOT’s follow-up safety evaluation tells a different story from the headlines. Comparing the three years before the redesign to the first year after, DOT found on PPW:Prospect Park West Traffic Calming & Bicycle Path – TRB paper (2012)

• Total crashes down by about 16%
• Crashes with injuries down over 60%
• Overall injuries down by about 20%
• Speeding and sidewalk cycling both sharply reduced

A later case study from Project for Public Spaces summed it up: the redesign reduced speeding, boosted bike use, and increased the street’s total capacity, even as travel times for drivers were essentially maintained.Prospect Park West: Overcoming Controversy to Create Safety and Mobility Benefits in Brooklyn

PPW established a pattern we now see in Toronto and Cambridge too: fierce local backlash, dire congestion predictions, a lawsuit—and then, once the dust settles, a safer, calmer corridor that quietly becomes the new normal.

3. Central Park West: a death, a lane, and a dismissed lawsuit

If Prospect Park West was about speeds, Central Park West (CPW) was about a very specific tragedy.

On August 10, 2018, Madison Lyden, a 23-year-old Australian tourist, was riding a rented bike in the painted lane on CPW when a livery car pulled into the lane ahead of her. She swerved into moving traffic and was struck and killed by a private garbage truck; the truck driver was later charged with driving under the influence.Australian cyclist killed by garbage truck while holidaying in New YorkBicyclist Killed By Garbage Truck on Central Park West

Her death galvanized advocates and neighbors. A ghost bike memorial was installed near West 67th Street, and groups like Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets called for a parking-protected bike lane along CPW so that parked cars could no longer block the bike lane and force riders into traffic.Memorial Dedicated To Tourist Killed In Central Park W Bike Lane

DOT responded with a plan to convert the painted lane into a protected one, removing hundreds of parking spaces. The condo board at 25 Central Park West sued to stop it, arguing the project would harm residents and was improperly approved. In October 2019, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lynn Kotler rejected the suit, ruling that the city was within its legal rights to upgrade the lane in the name of safety.Central Park West Bike Lane Lawsuit Thrown Out Of CourtStatement: Central Park West Lawsuit DismissedJudge Dismisses Suit Against Central Park West Bike Lane, Allowing it to Proceed

The legal principle is similar to what Cambridge and, more recently, Ontario courts have said: changing lane markings and parking rules to make a street safer is squarely within a city’s authority. You can argue about process and design, but you can’t claim a veto over basic safety upgrades just because they touch on car storage.

4. Busways, bike lanes, and congestion myths

New York’s most dramatic recent fight has been over busways—and the bike lanes that often come with them.

14th Street: “horrific traffic jams” vs. 24–30% faster buses

In 2019, the city proposed turning 14th Street in Manhattan into a Transit & Truck Priority corridor: buses and trucks could run through, but private cars would be limited to local access. At the same time, DOT planned protected bike lanes on nearby 12th and 13th Streets. A group of property owners sued under state environmental law, claiming the plan would cause “horrific traffic jams” and destroy neighborhood character.14th Street Landowners Sue City over Car-Free ‘Busway’14th Street busway blocked by judge

A judge briefly halted the project, but an appellate court lifted the injunction, and the 14th Street Busway launched in October 2019. It quickly became one of the city’s most successful transit projects:

• Bus speeds increased by up to 24%, and ridership by up to 30%, according to city data.14th Street Busway – NYC DOTSpeeding Up Slowly: A Review of Initiatives to Improve Bus Speeds in New York City
• A later DOT release cited a 42% drop in crashes on the corridor once the busway was in place.NYC DOT Proposes Busway for 34th Street in Manhattan
• An independent analysis by Sam Schwartz found travel times for the M14 bus were up to 10 minutes faster, while side-street driving times increased only marginally (often a couple of minutes).14th St. busway study finds faster speeds, scant negative impact

In other words: the “carpocalypse” never arrived. Buses got much faster, crashes went down, and local car trips adjusted.

34th Street and Sixth Avenue: the backlash continues

Despite 14th Street’s success, the same storyline is now playing out elsewhere:

• On 34th Street, DOT is proposing another busway between 3rd and 9th Avenues. Midtown residents and groups like the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association argue it will “clog” their side streets and worsen quality of life, even as DOT points to 28,000 daily bus riders and the 24% speed increase and 42% crash reduction achieved on 14th Street.Midtown residents claim car restrictions on 34th Street will clog nabes with trafficNYC DOT Proposes Busway for 34th Street in Manhattan Despite heavy opposition, the 34th Street busway has cleared its final community hurdle and is slated for implementation.No more cars on 34th Street: Busway clears final hurdle
• On Sixth Avenue, DOT plans to widen the protected bike lane from 6 to 10 feet and remove one of four car lanes between 14th and 35th Streets. A hostile New York Post story frames the agency as “car-hating bureaucrats” and predicts worsening congestion—even as DOT’s own numbers show 20–35% increases in bike traffic since 2019 and more than 345 bike-related injuries, including four deaths, on that stretch in recent years.Car-hating NYC bureaucrats quietly making congestion worse with plan to cut vehicle lanes

The pattern is recognizable: modest reallocations of space to buses and bikes trigger disproportionate fear, while the actual data—when projects are built—usually show faster buses, safer streets, and manageable changes for drivers.

5. Fifth Avenue and the “Streets Plan gap”

If Prospect Park West and CPW show how NYC used to fight over individual corridors, Fifth Avenue shows what the fight looks like under a legal Streets Plan.

Under de Blasio, planners floated a bold redesign of Fifth Avenue in Midtown with wider sidewalks, a dedicated bus lane, and a protected bike lane. Under Adams, the final 2024 plan kept the wider sidewalks, but deleted both the bus lane and the bike lane, restoring more space to private cars.‘Surrender’: Adams Cuts Bus, Bike Lanes From Fifth Ave. Plan

A civic review panel convened by Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine called the scaled-back design “not a real solution,” warning that it fails to address chronic bus delays on what is one of the busiest bus corridors in the city.Civic Panel Dings Adams For Cutting Bike and Bus Lanes Out of Fifth Av RedesignAdams’s Fifth Avenue Plan Will Make Bus Riders Suffer, Experts Say

A separate piece in the New York Post, while cheering some sidewalk expansion, also noted that the $400 million plan **omits bus and bike lanes altogether**, leaving more than 100,000 daily bus riders to fight for space in mixed traffic.[NYC’s Fifth Avenue getting$400M ‘pedestrian-centered’ makeover](https://nypost.com/2025/05/21/us-news/nycs-fifth-avenue-getting-400m-pedestrian-centered-makeover-that-drivers-and-cyclists-are-sure-to-hate/)

This is the Streets Plan gap in miniature:

• On paper, the city is required to prioritize buses and bikes along its busiest corridors.
• In practice, some of the most politically sensitive projects are being watered down to avoid angering drivers and business groups, at the cost of transit performance and bike safety.

A similar tension shows up in citywide metrics. A 2025 analysis by the Independent Budget Office highlights that bus-priority corridors like the 14th Street busway and other Select Bus Service routes run 11–36% faster than regular lines, showing these tools work when used.Speeding Up Slowly: A Review of Initiatives to Improve Bus Speeds in New York City Yet Adams’s DOT has repeatedly fallen short of the legally required bus lane mileage.DOT Spins Bus- and Bike-Lane Failure as ‘Streets Plan’ SuccessStatement from Transportation Alternatives on the Mayor’s Management Report

6. Enter Mamdani: A car-free mayor and the Streets Plan’s second chance

If the Adams years showed how far short of the Streets Plan a reluctant mayor could fall, the election of Zohran Mamdani in November 2025 suggests what happens when a city chooses the opposite.

Mamdani will be New York’s first car-free mayor in decades. He bikes and rides the subway to work, and made transit and street safety central to his campaign. His platform wasn’t subtle: expand the city’s bike and bus lane network, complete projects Adams stalled, and shift parking enforcement from the NYPD to DOT to improve compliance.Mamdani Election Signals Lane Change for Stymied Street Overhauls

The legal obligation remains

The Streets Plan law doesn’t reset with a new mayor. Starting in 2026, Mamdani’s administration is still legally required to install 50 miles of protected bike lanes and 30 miles of bus lanes every year through 2030—the same targets Adams missed for two years running.

Transit advocates are cautiously optimistic. Transportation Alternatives released a detailed agenda for the new mayor, calling for universal daylighting, expanded bike networks, lower speed limits, and completing the McGuinness Boulevard redesign in Brooklyn and the Fordham Road bus lanes in the Bronx—two high-profile projects Adams had cancelled or indefinitely delayed.Major transit advocacy group unveils ambitious transportation agenda for Mayor-elect Zohran MamdaniThe Road to Affordability: A Streets and Transportation Agenda for the Next Mayor of NYC

Low-cost wins and political cover

Former city traffic commissioner Sam Schwartz says Mamdani has the opportunity to move “almost instantly” on several fronts: expanding Open Streets programs around schools, piloting neighborhood traffic-calming in his first 100 days, and digitizing parking permits to curb illegal placard abuse.Mamdani Election Signals Lane Change for Stymied Street Overhauls

He also has political cover. Between 2022 and 2024, bike trips in New York jumped 33%, and Citi Bike winter ridership surged 107%.AGENDA 2026: Mayor Mamdani Must Sustain The City’s Bike Boom The cycling boom isn’t just in the advocacy community’s imagination—it’s in DOT’s own ridership counts.

Still, Mamdani faces the same forces that hobbled Adams: developer pushback, community board opposition, tabloid hostility, and the NYPD’s historic reluctance to enforce traffic rules on drivers. The Streets Plan is a legal floor, not a political ceiling. Whether Mamdani can close the gap between the two will define his tenure—and set a precedent for every other city watching New York’s latest bike-lane war.

7. What NYC tells us about “bike drama” elsewhere

New York’s bike-lane saga matters beyond the five boroughs because it illustrates a pattern now repeating in Toronto, Cambridge, London, and Berlin:

• Evidence vs. anecdotes: DOT data for Prospect Park West, Central Park West, and the 14th Street busway all show large reductions in speeding, crashes, and delays once space is reallocated.Prospect Park West Traffic Calming & Bicycle Path – TRB paper (2012)14th Street Busway – NYC DOT But political debate still centers on the loudest opponents and worst-case scenarios.
• Courts as reluctant referees: Judges dismissed suits against both the PPW and CPW bike lanes, affirming the city’s right to redesign streets for safety even over local opposition.Judge Rejects Prospect Park West Bike Lane LawsuitCentral Park West Bike Lane Lawsuit Thrown Out Of Court That precedent is now echoed in Cambridge and Toronto.
• Law vs. implementation: The Streets Plan shows how far you can get with a strong legal framework—and also how much backsliding is still possible if political leadership is hesitant.

New York doesn’t have everything figured out; far from it. But if you zoom out from the tabloids and community-board fights, the throughline is clear: when the city actually builds the projects its engineers design—protected bike lanes, busways, and traffic-calmed streets—they tend to deliver exactly what the data predict: fewer deaths, faster transit, and more people moving in less space.

The drama is real. But the physics of street space are stubborn. Over time, even in New York, they tend to win.

References

1. Transportation Alternatives. The New Bicycle Blueprint.
2. Transportation Alternatives. Protected Bike Lane Tracker.
3. Dave Colon. “In 2023, Mayor Adams Basically Erased the ‘Streets Master Plan’.” Streetsblog NYC, Jan. 2, 2024.
4. Gersh Kuntzman. “DOT Spins Bus- and Bike-Lane Failure as ‘Streets Plan’ Success.” Streetsblog NYC, Feb. 26, 2024.
5. Planetizen. “NYC Streets Plan Remains Largely on Paper.”, Jan. 3, 2024.
6. NYC DOT. “NYC DOT Highlights Historic Street Safety and Accessibility Improvements.”, Mar. 13, 2025.
7. NYC DOT. “Prospect Park West Bicycle Path and Traffic Calming.”, April 2009.
8. NYC DOT. “Prospect Park West Traffic Calming & Bicycle Path” (TRB paper)., 2012.
9. Ben Fried. “Victory for Safe Streets: Judge Rejects Prospect Park West Bike Lane Lawsuit.” Streetsblog NYC, Aug. 17, 2011.
10. The Brooklyn Paper. “BREAKING NEWS: City wins Prospect Park West bike lane suit.”, Aug. 16, 2011.
11. Project for Public Spaces. “Prospect Park West: Overcoming Controversy to Create Safety and Mobility Benefits in Brooklyn.”, Dec. 13, 2012.
12. Naaman Zhou. “Australian cyclist killed by garbage truck while holidaying in New York.” The Guardian, Aug. 11, 2018.
13. West Side Rag. “Bicyclist Killed By Garbage Truck on Central Park West; Driver to Face DUI Charges.”, Aug. 10, 2018.
14. Brendan Krisel. “Memorial Dedicated To Tourist Killed In Central Park W Bike Lane.” Patch, Sept. 19, 2018.
15. Gersh Kuntzman. “Central Park West Bike Lane Lawsuit Thrown Out Of Court.” Streetsblog NYC, Oct. 24, 2019.
16. Transportation Alternatives. “Statement: Central Park West Lawsuit Dismissed.”, Oct. 24, 2019.
17. West Side Rag. “Judge Dismisses Suit Against Central Park West Bike Lane, Allowing it to Proceed.”, Oct. 24, 2019.
18. NYC DOT. “14th Street Busway.” (project overview).
19. New York City Independent Budget Office. “Speeding Up Slowly: A Review of Initiatives to Improve Bus Speeds in New York City.”, Feb. 2025.
20. The Village Sun. “14th St. busway study finds faster speeds, scant negative impact, but drivers already flouting rules.”, Dec. 23, 2019.
21. Gersh Kuntzman. “‘Surrender’: Adams Cuts Bus, Bike Lanes From Fifth Ave. Plan.” Streetsblog NYC, Oct. 17, 2024.
22. Kevin Duggan. “Adams’s Fifth Avenue Plan Will Make Bus Riders Suffer, Experts Say.” Streetsblog NYC, Oct. 22, 2024.
23. David Meyer. “Civic Panel Dings Adams For Cutting Bike and Bus Lanes Out of Fifth Av Redesign.” Streetsblog NYC, July 14, 2025.
24. Nolan Hicks. “NYC’s Fifth Avenue getting $400M ‘pedestrian-centered’ makeover.” New York Post, May 21, 2025.
25. Nolan Hicks. “Car-hating NYC bureaucrats quietly making congestion worse with plan to cut vehicle lanes.” New York Post, Mar. 1, 2025.
26. Nolan Hicks. “Midtown residents claim car restrictions on 34th Street will clog nabes with traffic, worsen their lives.” New York Post, June 8, 2025.
27. NYC DOT. “NYC DOT Proposes Busway for 34th Street in Manhattan.”, May 20, 2025.
28. Nolan Hicks. “No more cars on 34th Street: Busway clears final hurdle, despite wild opposition from transit users.” New York Post, June 14, 2025.
29. Transportation Alternatives. “Statement from Transportation Alternatives on the Mayor’s Management Report.”, Sept. 18, 2025.
30. New York City Comptroller. “Behind Schedule: How New York City’s Bus System Slow Rolls Riders.”, Apr. 10, 2025.
31. Josefa Velasquez. “Mamdani Election Signals Lane Change for Stymied Street Overhauls.” THE CITY, Nov. 17, 2025.
32. AM New York. “Major transit advocacy group unveils ambitious transportation agenda for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.”, Nov. 6, 2025.
33. Transportation Alternatives. “The Road to Affordability: A Streets and Transportation Agenda for the Next Mayor of NYC.”, 2025.
34. Gersh Kuntzman. “AGENDA 2026: Mayor Mamdani Must Sustain The City’s Bike Boom.” Streetsblog NYC, Nov. 5, 2025.