By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Movement on two wheels is growing in a big way, with about 50,000 more cyclists on New York’s roads each day in 2009 than 2008, according to the latest annual study by Transportation Alternatives.
That spike is attributable to the city’s commitment to creating “more and better bike lanes,” said Wiley Norvell, communications director for the advocacy group.
The estimated 236,000 riders circling the city each day now have 420 miles of bike lanes at their disposal. The city has set a target plan of 1,800 miles.
But among those 420 miles of lanes, only five miles are physically separated from traffic by a concrete barrier, row of parked cars or other buffer. These protected areas include Eighth and Ninth avenues in Chelsea and Allen Street on the Lower East Side.
“We certainly have many more dangerous streets and avenues that need to be tamed,” said Norvell. The priority, he said, is “no longer looking at a dangerous avenue, laying some paint down and saying, ‘let’s see what happens.’”
In Norvell’s view, areas in most dire need of better lanes include Manhattan’s First and Second avenues.
In spite of lingering challenges posed by its dangerous streets, New York has several qualities that make it particularly conducive to biking. It’s flat, densely populated, possesses a strong public transportation network and includes many mixed use neighborhoods.
Not including subway traffic, bikes account for about 4.4 percent of vehicles on NYC roads and miles traveled on a given day.
After factoring in the subway, Novell believes bikes make up over one percent of traffic, a figure which represents considerable progress but still falls well behind the 5-10 percent rates of cities like Paris and London.
