The city is rolling out a tougher raised bike lane design on the Grand Concourse that officials say should keep drivers from hopping the curb and turning it into a parking lot. Yet a recent street check found fresh concrete already hosting parked cars, raising familiar questions about whether design tweaks and enforcement are really on the same page.
Phase 5 kicks off with $44 million makeover
The Department of Design and Construction says Phase 5 of the Grand Concourse rebuild is a $44 million package stretching from East Fordham Road to East 198th Street, with raised bike lanes, wider medians, new lighting and underground utility upgrades intended to calm traffic and improve safety. The agency notes this phase follows earlier work along the boulevard, and that the prior phase, completed in 2023, cost about $62.5 million. In a press release via NYC Department of Design and Construction, officials said the work will also add bus lanes, plantings and stormwater improvements.
Design tweak aims to deter drivers, with caveats
The Department of Transportation says the new layout uses a standard, non-angled curb at mid-block while keeping sloped, mountable curbs at the beginning and end of each block. The agency says that setup preserves access for emergency vehicles while making it harder for everyday motorists to roll onto the bike path.
“We’ve updated our curb design to help prevent illegal parking while still preserving emergency vehicle access,” DOT spokesperson Mona Bruno told reporters. Yet Streetsblog New York City found cars already claiming space on parts of the newly built lane. The outlet reported that while the mid-block curb should be tougher to mount than the older sloped version, the open block ends may still read to some drivers as an invitation to park.
Timing and what the city says it will fix
Project documents list design work beginning in 2019, a construction start date of September 30, 2024, and a scheduled construction completion date of September 30, 2027 for the Phase 5 corridor. The plans call for buffered raised bike lanes, wider medians and new stop-controlled slip lanes to address long crossings, narrow refuge areas and chronic double parking that have dogged the Grand Concourse for years. The construction timeline and design specifics appear in a DOT project presentation. NYC DOT project presentation (PDF)
Advocates say the tweak won't fully solve the problem
Bike and street-safety advocates say the sharper mid-block curb is a step up from the 2023 mountable design but does not amount to real protection for people on bikes. “I’m still a little bit skeptical because I don’t know that a sharp curb would necessarily deter drivers from,” Transportation Alternatives organizer Lucia Deng told Streetsblog New York City. She urged the city to look at ground-level bike lanes that are physically protected with posts or the small rubber “armadillo” humps DOT has tested in other locations, according to the outlet.
City agencies say they plan to monitor the corridor as construction continues and argue that the redesign tries to strike a balance between protecting cyclists and preserving emergency vehicle access. The Department of Design and Construction says the Phase 5 rebuild is intended to deliver long-term safety and infrastructure improvements as part of the broader Grand Concourse overhaul. NYC Department of Design and Construction
