The Sketch Atlas

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United Nations, NYC - March 8th, 2017

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Historic cycling in NYC - via NY Public Library Digital Collection.

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St. Pat’s For All Parade in Sunnyside, Queens - March 5, 2017.

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A cold walk on the High Line in Chelsea - March 3, 2017.

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Last night, NYC DOT presented a plan for a redesign of Amsterdam Avenue between 110th and 162nd Streets in upper Manhattan. While the proposal does include a road diet and a Class-2 lane for cyclists, safe streets advocates think DOT could go further with their proposal.

  Per Streetsblog:

  “While the project would stripe bike lanes where none currently exist, connecting the Upper West Side to Washington Heights and linking up to painted lanes on Amsterdam at 168th Street, it has some weaknesses on top of the lack of protection.

  Between 113th Street and 110th Street, where Amsterdam changes to two-way from one-way northbound, DOT will keep two travel lanes in each direction and add sharrows. And during the morning and afternoon rush at 145th and 155th streets, parking would be restricted in the east curb lane to make way for through-traffic. This would position northbound cyclists between two lanes of moving motor vehicles.”

  See the photos above for the current configurations of Amsterdam Avenue above and below 110th along with the DOT proposal for above 110th Street.

 There are a few issues with the DOT proposal - first, it does not provide a protected lane for cyclists in either direction. The common criticism of the current DOT’s implementation of protected infrastructure is the patchwork nature of our current network - lanes stop and start without warning, which is uncomfortable and dangerous for vulnerable and inexperienced riders. This solution also makes cyclists cross the entire avenue to continue northbound, from their curbside protected lane to the Class-2 lane on the east side of the street. This creates huge unnecessary conflict between cyclists and high-speed vehicles.

  A much safer solution would be the alternate shown above. This proposal allows for the same travel lane allotment as DOT currently proposes, while properly protecting cyclists with a bidirectional lane on the west side of the street. This also eliminates the need for northbound cyclists to cross multiple lanes of moving traffic to move from the west curbside lane to the proposed Class-2 lane.

  While DOT might not have the appetite for another long fight regarding Amsterdam Avenue, the safety implications of this redesign are worth the effort.

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President’s Day Weekend 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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TERMS OF USE FOR DRIVING IN MANHATTAN:   I hereby acknowledge the following;   1) I am choosing to drive a large heavy motorized box into the most densely populated county in the United States;   2) This choice endangers people's lives;   3) This county has an extensive public transit network and is well-served by taxis, livery, ride-hailing apps, as well as a comprehensive bike share program;   4) While I may get lucky, neither deity nor US Constitution entitles me to immunity from traffic delays, nor does it guarantee me the right to store my large heavy motorized box anywhere for free;   5) Bike lanes do not cause traffic congestion.  My large heavy motorized box, however, does;   6) I understand that people actually live in Manhattan as well as the rest of New York City.  It is not a theme park or a sitcom.  Therefore, any expectation that my car is the "It's a Small World" ride or that my windshield is a TV screen across which life will unfold according to my own whims or expectations is pathologically unreasonable;   a. Should I forget the above and elect to communicate my displeasure to any other road user by means of car horn or verbal haranguing, I acknowledge that I or my personal property may be subject to physical damage;   b. In the event of such damage, I shall not hold the other party responsible, nor shall I be entitled to any claims of loss, damage, or legal liability for anything that happens to me as a result of my being a complete douchebag;   7) If I don't like any of the above, I can feel free to shove a Bruce Springsteen box set up my ass.

Bike Snob NYC, February 13, 2017

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Old postcards of a few of the now-demolished elevated trains of NYC via New York Public Library Digital Collections.

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A snowy commute - February 9, 2017

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It is one of the ironies of our time that, while concentrating on the defense of our country against enemies from without, we should be so heedless of those who would destroy it from within.

Rachel Carson, “Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson”

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A few shots from a quick ride to Roosevelt Island - February 5, 2017.

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Back in 2014, I quit my job with NYC Bike Share and attempted one of my dreams - to ride a bicycle across the USA. While I did not complete the entire journey, I made it from Seattle to Minneapolis before real life concerns (a job interview) pulled me off the road and back to NYC.

After the tour, I made this map to document the journey - the people, the places, and a few of the memories along the way.

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Soho Loft

-with Murdock Solon Architects as a junior architect.

Interior renovation of a loft in Soho, NYC.

All photos by Joseph M Kitchen Photography.

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Each of us is an atlas of sorts, already knowing how to navigate some portion of the world, containing innumerable versions of place as experience and desire and fear, as route and landmark and memory.

Rebecca Solnit

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Women’s March on NYC - January 21, 2017

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Unbuilt Bridges of New York City

Sources in Order of appearance

Proposed Bridges of New York City in 1911

Old New York in Postcards #11

Baron Bossom’s Bridge: The unbuilt Victory Bridge Crossing the Hudson River at Manhattan (two photos)

Radical Infrastructure Schemes: The Brooklyn-Battery Bridge (two photos)

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Madison Square Park - before and after the intersection redesign of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Lots of improvements - more pedestrian space, bike lanes, less lanes for cars.