According to city authorities, daily cycling crossings on East River bridges hit a record 29,000 trips in 2025, nearly 18 times the 1980 figure. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup bringing millions of visitors to the city this summer, officials say Sixth Avenue’s existing six-foot protected lane can no longer keep pace with demand.
New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Mike Flynn announced today that the city will double the width of the protected bike lane on Sixth Avenue, one of Manhattan’s busiest cycling corridors, ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Between 14th Street and West 31st Street, the DOT will widen the protected lane from six feet to ten feet. Between 31st and 35th Streets, the existing five-foot protected lane will remain, with nine feet of new pedestrian space added through painted sidewalk extensions.
“What better way to welcome the World Cup than by making our streets safer and more accessible for everyone who uses them?” Mayor Mamdani said. “From Sixth Avenue in Manhattan to Broadway in Queens and the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, we’re redesigning our streets to better protect pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike. Long after the sun sets on this summer of celebration, these improvements will continue serving New Yorkers every single day.”
“The Mamdani administration has tasked us to work with urgency to improve safety on our streets. With a colorful history, Sixth Avenue now hosts one of the city’s most popular bike lanes, and it is time we make it even better,” Commissioner Flynn said. “New Yorkers and visitors alike should be able to connect to Manhattan’s major tourist destinations comfortably, whether they are traveling by bike, on foot, or by car. Widening this bike lane will make the street safer for everyone and provide a calmer, more comfortable cycling experience by allowing more room for passing.”
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The Sixth Avenue expansion builds on work already completed. In 2024, the DOT installed a double-width protected lane along Sixth Avenue from Lispenard Street in Tribeca to West 13th Street in Greenwich Village, closing a significant gap in the city’s cycling network. The new project extends those improvements north through Midtown.
Sixth Avenue’s first bike lane lasted six months before politicians killed it
In 1980, Sixth Avenue briefly became the site of the city’s first curb-protected bike lane, installed under Mayor Ed Koch after a visit to China inspired the idea. The experiment proved deeply controversial: it drew opposition from then-Governor Hugh Carey and others, and was removed after six months. The current protected lane dates to 2020.
Despite those design improvements, Sixth Avenue remains one of the DOT’s Vision Zero priority corridors, a citywide program to eliminate traffic fatalities, because of its persistently high rate of pedestrian deaths and serious injuries per mile. Between 2019 and 2023, the stretch saw 29 traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Similar redesign projects elsewhere in the city have cut deaths and serious injuries among all road users by 30 percent, with pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries falling 31.7 percent.
The DOT plans to complete the bike lane installation before World Cup matches begin in June.
Officials and advocates back the expansion
“Sixth Avenue is one of the busiest corridors in all of New York City, and every New Yorker — and the millions of visitors descending on the city for the World Cup this summer — who walks, bikes, or drives on it deserves to feel safe,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler, whose district covers the affected stretch of Sixth Avenue. “Widening the Sixth Avenue bike lane will make our streets safer for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers near some of our most visited destinations. I’m proud to have supported protected bike lanes all over my district, and this initiative will greatly benefit my constituents from the East to the West Side in our fight for safer streets.”
“I’m grateful to Mayor Mamdani, Commissioner Flynn, and DOT for moving forward with the widening of the protected bike lanes on Sixth Avenue, one of the busiest cycling corridors in Manhattan. As more New Yorkers choose to bike to work, school, and everywhere in between, we need streets that are safer and better designed for everyone. These improvements will help make cycling in Manhattan safer, faster, and more accessible for all,” said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
“The expansion of the Sixth Avenue bike lane, which runs through the heart of Council District 3, is a major step in creating safe and effective micromobility options across New York City,” said Council Member Carl Wilson. “This investment guarantees protected biking in one of the most highly traversed corridors in the city. As a Citi Bike user myself, I am pleased to see this improvement, and I am grateful to DOT for their quick efforts to move this project forward.”
“We’re thrilled to see that DOT is widening the Sixth Avenue bike lane to meet New Yorkers’ growing demand for getting around by bike,” said Emily Jacobi, senior organizer at Transportation Alternatives. “As warmer weather brings even more people onto our streets, we need infrastructure that keeps everyone safe and makes it easier for people to hop on a bike during the World Cup and beyond. Joining recent expansions on Second, Third, Ninth, and Tenth Avenues, this upgrade is another great sign that our streets are getting better.”
“Major global events should leave cities better than they found them. We’re glad to see the DOT and Mayor Mamdani using this moment to accelerate mobility improvements, including protected cycling infrastructure and faster, more reliable transit,” said Adrian Cacho, senior organizer at Open Plans. “The World Cup is a once-in-a-generation chance to rethink how New York City’s public spaces can be calmer, more welcoming, and more vibrant. Widening the Sixth Avenue protected lane will help people reach and move through Greeley Square and Herald Square safely.”
By Martin Feng, Vision Times
