Posted on Wednesday May 19th by Melissa Lafsky | 2,828
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Here’s a photo of the newest, er, sidewalk division at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 22nd Street in Manhattan. While the marks are a good joke by an unknown street artist — one that native New Yorkers will no doubt appreciate — it does raise an interesting question: Would sidewalks better serve large numbers of pedestrians if they were divided for purposes such as sight-seeing versus commuting?
Image: Mark Armstrong
May 19th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I have a feeling the Dutch feel the same way about their bike paths
May 19th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
It’s PRT. Pedestrian Rapid Transit…
May 19th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
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May 19th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
If I’m not mistaken, this was SERIOUSLY studied by authorities in London for Oxford Street (which can be a misery for everyone at the best of times). Does anyone know?
May 20th, 2010 at 1:15 am
I heard New York was already doing this along a street, Broadway perhaps, by reallocating road space.
May 20th, 2010 at 10:46 am
I’ve always thought that there need to be “express” and “local” lanes on NYC sidewalks. Big props to whoever did this.
May 21st, 2010 at 9:43 am
I believe a city in China also implemented such a concept… can’t recall where exactly, but I’d wager either Shanghai, Beijing, or Hong Kong. I recall seeing it in headlines perhaps ~2-3 yrs ago or so. I’m not sure if it’s still in place or not.
May 21st, 2010 at 10:30 am
Sounds funny but also unrealistic to me — a basic “keep right” concept could help, though.
Cycle paths are separated (in NL or elsewhere) from pedestrian traffic because there is a big difference in speed.
May 21st, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Shanghai didn’t have anything like this when I was there last summer.
May 22nd, 2010 at 9:29 am
This is interesting idea, but I don’t think it can work well without constant guidance. I see it’s problem to keep cyclist and pedestrian separate on their lanes (unless there is some physical barrier), however it’s definitely worth trying in some cities, there will be no significant cost if it fails…
May 26th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
I’ve just spent the last 8 days trudging the footpaths of New York and can see that this may work, it would help “ new yorkers” walk in straight lines. Seemed whenever I stuck to the right side of the foot path I always ended up in the middle, If I wasnt trying to get around slow “new yorkers”, I was scooting around the copious amount of homeless, hot dog stands and street vendors on the path.
With the cyclist thing, it seems to work fine on the Brooklyn bridge, maybe if you live in New York you should venture over that area and see how it works, I thought it was a great idea.
But all that said, I think the money could be wiser spent……