Screenshot from Streetfilms video

While Mayor Ford shoots down suggestions that the City subsidize Bixi and announces his opposition to a new bike storage facility in the City Hall parking lot, New York City is churning out more innovative cycling infrastructure that is sure to make Toronto cyclists drool with envy. Three new 16-bike parking corrals have been installed in place of single car parking spots in the floating lane that seperates the bike lane from car traffic on 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. In this video produced by Streetfilms, you can see that cyclists and local business owners both love the “oasis” because it protects the cyclists, is convenient for customers and delivery people, and frees up space on the sidewalks.

“Having bike-parking replacing a car parking spot in the floating lane is definitely a first for New York City, and quite possibly the first in the United States,” writes Streetfilms producer Clarence Eckerson Jr. in the accompanying blog post.

Toronto has replaced car parking with bike parking before, notably on the busy stretch of Spadina between Queen and Dundas, but floating lanes seperating vehicular traffic and bicycle traffic, especially ones filled with bike parking, have yet to be embraced. Should Toronto adopt this model? What streets could this work on? Share your thoughts in the comments.

[via The Atlantic Cities]

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Michael Kolberg is The Sprawl Editor at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter for jokes @mikeykolberg.

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