NYC DOT Celebrates Four Years of Historic Progress Reimagining New York City Streets for a Safer, More Sustainable City

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2025  
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NYC DOT Celebrates Four Years of Historic Progress Reimagining New York City Streets for a Safer, More Sustainable City

Traffic Deaths Reach Historic Lows as NYC DOT Installed Record Protected Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Space, and Intersection Improvements

School dismissal on the 34th Avenue Open Street in Jackson Heights, Queens. Credit: NYC DOT

NEW YORK - New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez today celebrated four years of record accomplishments to reimagine New York City streets and create a safer, more sustainable city. NYC DOT properties, including streets, account for roughly 27 percent of all land in New York City and the agency has prioritized its use for greater safety, growing the city's economy as it emerged from the pandemic, and better accommodating all road users.

"We took office with a simple promise: to 'Get Stuff Done,' and, four years later, our administration can say that we delivered on that promise every day for working-class New Yorkers," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. "We drove shootings to record lows and pushed jobs and small businesses to record highs. We rewrote the playbook on homelessness and mental health to finally get New Yorkers living on our streets the help they need, and, after decades of half-measures, passed historic housing legislation to turn New York into a 'City of Yes.' We overhauled the way our students learn to read and do math, cut the cost of child care, and forgave medical debt. We eliminated taxes for low-income families, launched free universal after-school programming, and consistently decreased traffic deaths to historic lows, with this year having overall traffic fatalities at near record lows. We got scaffolding off our buildings, trash bags off our streets, and opened up new public spaces for New Yorkers to enjoy. The haters may have doubted us, but the results are clear. On issue after issue, we brought common-sense leadership to create a safer, more affordable city, and our work has changed our city for the better; it will stand the test of time because we made New York City the best place to live and raise a family."

"Over the last four years, NYC DOT has advanced a comprehensive, equity-focused strategy built on data to improve safety, expand mobility, and to prioritize streets that serve a range of public needs that go beyond the movement and storage of private vehicles," said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. "We have made historic progress designing streets for the New York City of 2050, not 1950, with a record number of protected bike lanes, a record amount of new pedestrian space, and a record number of intersection safety improvements."

EXPANDING MOBILITY AND INCREASING SAFETY

Over the last four years, NYC DOT has advanced a comprehensive, data-driven, and equity-focused strategy to expand mobility, improve safety, and deliver on its Vision Zero commitments.

• Historic declines in traffic deaths: Traffic deaths, which once exceeded 1,000 annually in the early 20th century, have declined to historic lows over the past four years. One death is one too many, and that is why the agency has - and will continue - to work with urgency to make our streets safer. By 2023, New York City recorded the lowest number of pedestrian deaths in history, and overall traffic fatalities have remained near record lows through 2025.
• All-time high bike lanes: Over the past four years, the agency installed a record number of protected bike lanes, enhanced a record number of bike lanes that lacked protection, widened and upgraded bike lanes along major Manhattan streets, and introduced new bike lanes in underserved areas such as Soundview, East New York, and long-requested routes like Sixth and Third avenues in Manhattan.
• Supporting congestion pricing: NYC DOT provided critical modeling, design, and policy analysis while securing $125 million in environmental justice investments. Transit improvements continued citywide, with new dedicated bus lanes on 96th Street, Livingston Street, Hillside Avenue, Northern Boulevard, and a major new Flatbush Avenue corridor.
• Expanded automated enforcement: NYC DOT secured an unprecedented expansion of automated enforcement through 24/7 speed cameras and the quadrupling of red-light cameras, contributing to major reductions in dangerous driving.
• Sammy's Law: The agency also succeeded in passing Sammy's Law to allow New York City to better control speed limits on its own streets after nearly 10-years of advocacy from New York City and advocates.
• Historic Greenway Expansion: NYC DOT secured a $7.25 million U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant which has begun to lay the foundation for an historic greenway expansion across the five boroughs through the launch of the Greater Greenways plan, with implementation already underway in the Bronx's Harlem river greenway.

REIMAGINING STREETS AND THE PUBLIC REALM

Over the past four years, NYC DOT reshaped the public realm at an unprecedented scale, opening streets to people, culture, and community life.

• Summer Streets: For the first time since its inception in 2008, NYC DOT delivered a massive expansion from a Manhattan-only route to a 22-mile, five-borough program, drawing record participation.
• Signature event creation: For the first time ever, NYC DOT expanded Car-Free Earth Day citywide, established Trick or Streets, Día de Muertos programming, and the Fifth Avenue Holiday Open Street-growing into beloved traditions drawing millions while also inspiring other cities across the United States to enact similar programs.
• Permanent Outdoor Dining: NYC DOT institutionalized the pandemic-era success of outdoor dining by launching Dining Out NYC, now the nation's largest outdoor dining program with nearly 3,000 outdoor dining setups across the city, nearly three times the size of the pre-pandemic outdoor dining program.
• Accessibility: Launched a ten-year plan to install seating at every bus stop in the city, invested $600 million in ADA-accessible curb ramps, installed 3,000 accessible pedestrian signals, and expanded the number of raised crosswalks that improve safety and make it easier to navigate New York City.
• Public Art: NYC DOT oversaw more than 150 new temporary installations-a 15 percent increase-plus nearly 275,000 square feet of asphalt art and a major restoration of a permanent artwork.
• Bridges for People: NYC DOT completed the long-awaited pedestrianization of the Queensboro Bridge South Outer Roadway, creating dedicated pedestrian and cycling paths to meet surging demand; added bike and bus lanes to the Washington Bridge connecting the Bronx to Manhattan; and improved biking conditions on the Roosevelt Bridge by covering the steel roadbed with rubber matting.
• Deliveries: A suite of pioneering freight-movement reforms-Smart Curbs, microhubs, LockerNYC, Blue Highways, e-cargo bike legalization, and an overnight truck-parking pilot-further advanced a safer, more sustainable streetscape and worked to address last-mile challenges that increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND ASSET MANAGEMENT

NYC DOT delivered major capital, operational, and technological advancements.

• Bridge rehabilitation: NYC DOT completed an historic $300 million restoration of the Brooklyn Bridge and opened newly revitalized public space at the Manhattan gateway of the Brooklyn Bridge. The agency also reconstructed key bridges citywide, including by redecking the Queensboro Bridge's upper roadway, building a new Unionport Bridge in the Bronx, and through the use of in-house crews, redecking the wooden Ocean Avenue pedestrian bridge over Sheepshead Bay.
• Weigh-in Motion: The agency pioneered weigh-in-motion truck weight limit enforcement, reducing the number of overweight vehicles on the Queensbound Brooklyn Queens Expressway by 60 percent and working with partners in Albany to expand the use of this technology to protect aging infrastructure across the state.
• Roadways: The agency resurfaced more than 1,150 lane miles annually and repaired over 600,000 potholes. Streets are smoother and safer, with pothole repair response times cut nearly in half.
• Sustainability: NYC DOT piloted an asphalt mix with 50 percent recycled content and converted the entire Staten Island Ferry fleet to renewable diesel, five years ahead of schedule.
• Ferries: Three new Ollis-class ferries entered service as part of a massive upgrade to the ferry fleet, while the entire fleet of vessels transitioned to Renewable Diesel boosting. resilience. A breakthrough labor agreement ended a 13-year impasse and eliminated crew-related service gaps.

ADVANCING EQUITY, WORKFORCE DIVERSITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Equity has become a defining principle of NYC DOT's operations, investments, and culture.

• Public Space for All: The Public Space Equity Program expanded plazas and Open Streets in underserved neighborhoods, while the first major restoration of Sixth Avenue's medallions honored the City's immigrant communities and the legacy they have left on New York City.
• M/WBE contracting: NYC DOT M/WBE contracting grew from 11 percent to 37 percent of agency contracting dollars, benefiting more than 400 minority and women-owned businesses with over $400 million in awards.
• MEBA Contract: The city reached an agreement with 94 percent support with the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (MEBA), the union representing Staten Island Ferry licensed officers. This was the first one the city had reached with the union since 2010 and led to a 100 percent reduction in missed ferry trips due to crew shortages.
• Safety projects: NYC DOT's data shows that the lowest income communities now receive the highest rate of safety improvements per mile-and are experiencing the largest decline in pedestrian fatalities.
• Citi Bike and e-scooter share expansion: deeply into historically underserved areas, improving mobility and access. Finally, NYC DOT embedded inclusive planning into major regional initiatives-including transformative work on the Cross Bronx and Brooklyn Queens Expressways-ensuring that future infrastructure reflects the voices and needs of all New Yorkers.