NYC DOT Unveils New Bike Lane Traffic Signals Along Third Avenue in Manhattan to Help Protect Cyclists, Pedestrians, and Everyone Who Shares Our Streets

Press Releases

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2025
Contact: (212) 839-4850, press@dot.nyc.gov

NYC DOT Unveils New Bike Lane Traffic Signals Along Third Avenue in Manhattan to Help Protect Cyclists, Pedestrians, and Everyone Who Shares Our Streets

Smaller Signals at Cyclist's Eye-Level Are Part of the Major Safety Redesign of Upper East Side Street That Previously Had Among Highest Crash Rates in New York City

With "Green Wave" Signal Timing Installed Earlier This Year Along Third Avenue, Traffic Lights Are Making the Street Safer for All & Encourage Compliance With Traffic Laws

A new, smaller traffic signal for bicyclists attached to a traffic pole along Third Avenue's protected bicycle lane in Manhattan. @NYCDOT

NEW YORK - New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez today announced new bike lane traffic signals have been installed along Third Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The new signals, smaller and installed at about five feet off the ground - cyclist eye-level - and have proven elsewhere to increase safety as well as cyclist compliance with traffic laws.

In 2023, NYC DOT unveiled a major street redesign of Third Avenue, when nearly two miles of the avenue - from East 60th to East 96th streets - were prioritized for pedestrian and cyclist safety, with pedestrian islands, a new offset bus lane, and a double-wide parking-protected bicycle lane. Earlier this year, the agency announced 'green wave' signal timing had been introduced to the corridor, with traffic signals now timed so that vehicles driving at 15 MPH will hit consecutive green lights. The speed limit remains 25 MPH, but average daytime travel speeds are generally lower on the busy corridor. Prior to the redesign, this stretch of Third Avenue had been a Vision Zero Priority Corridor, with a high incidence of vehicle speeding, with 31 severe traffic injuries and five traffic fatalities (four pedestrians and one cyclist) between 2020 and 2024.

"Our transformative redesign of Third Avenue has already made the street safer -whether you are walking, biking, or driving," said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. "These new traffic signals for cyclists complement our green wave traffic timing, the next natural step in making sure the thousands of cyclists who use this street every day can keep both themselves and the many pedestrians crossing Third Avenue safe. We are working every day to make our streets safer and to make it easier for New Yorkers to get around our city."

New Bike-Specific Traffic Signals: As NYC DOT continues its record expansion of protected bicycle lanes, the agency has sought ways to make those lanes safer for cyclists and other street users. The smaller new bike signals are more visible to cyclists by being located at eye-level at the nearside of corners, where they can be easily spotted before cyclists enter intersections, where most crashes occur. With cyclist-specific imagery, the first signals have been placed at those intersections with left-turning vehicle lanes that cross the bicycle lane - areas where there is the greatest need for clarity and predictability for cyclists.

NYC DOT installed the first new signal along Third Avenue at 69th Street, with more installations to come.

While these are the first smaller bike signals deployed in New York City, these signals have been used successfully elsewhere in the United States. A recent peer-reviewed paper at Oregon State University indicated that such traffic signals had increased compliance with traffic laws. According to the paper, "...[the] average percentage of users who committed a red-light violation [after such lights were installed] decreased from 30.8 percent to 14.8 percent."

Third Avenue Transformed: The Third Avenue "Complete Street" project, constructed in 2023, included a redesign of every intersection on the avenue as well as traffic-calming measures to reduce speeding. The project now better accommodates all road users, including by delivering faster, more reliable bus service for 50,000 daily riders along the corridor. To better accommodate record high bike ridership and expected future growth, NYC DOT installed segments of bike lanes along Third Avenue as wide as 10 feet, making cycling conditions safer and more comfortable.

Preliminary data from the redesign shows a 79 percent increase in bike traffic while also bringing a 54.3 percent decrease in pedestrian injuries and 33.3 percent decrease in total injuries.

NYC DOT plans to return to the corridor this year to deliver similar bike and bus lane upgrades to Third Avenue's northern terminus, from East 96th to East 128th streets.

NYC DOT will continue to monitor, evaluate, and make adjustments to the project as needed. The monitoring process will include reviewing both designs and behavior in terms of how the wider bike lanes and signals are being utilized and how cyclists are adapting.

Given the Third Avenue lane's heavy use by delivery cyclists, these safety efforts build upon the Adams administration's Charge Safe, Ride Safe E-mobility Action Plan announced earlier this year by incorporating street designs that accommodate the growth of micromobility devices on city streets-and make riding both safer and easier.