Want Safety in Central Park? Add Protected Bike Lanes Around and Through It: Advocates - Streetsblog New York City

"The city must build protected bike paths around and through Central Park to curb the ever-growing demand on its loop paths, rather than giving in to zealots trying to simply ban bikes in the green haven, advocates say. The popular park's interior roads were recently restriped in hopes of organizing the many people moving at different speeds, including tourists, residents, horse carriage drivers, commuters, acoustic cyclists and e-bike-using delivery workers."

"Instead of a total ban on e-devices, however, the city should provide more safe and direct on-street cycling infrastructure on all four sides of the park and on its car-dominated transverses - an infrastructure improvement that would solve virtually all of the conflicts, one Manhattan cycling booster said. "A cycle track around the park would get a ton of use and it's going to take pressure off of Central Park," said Chris Sanders, a co-chair of the Transportation Alternatives Manhattan activist committee."

Central Park's six-mile inner roadway experiences rising congestion from diverse users, including cyclists, e-bike delivery workers, tourists, residents, horse carriage drivers and commuters. The park's interior roads were restriped to better organize people moving at different speeds, but pressure on the loop persists. Advocates call for protected on-street cycling infrastructure on all four sides of the park and on its car-dominated transverses to provide safe, direct alternatives. A cycle track encircling the park is expected to attract heavy use and significantly reduce biking demand inside the park. Prior to 2018, thousands of drivers used the park roads, and the car ban shifted more non-motorized traffic into the drives.

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