The New York City Council last week passed the Vision Zero Design Standards bill by a veto-proof majority.

The bill would mandate that the Department of Transportation establish a checklist of safety standards, including protected bike lanes, to follow whenever it redesigns arterial streets.

Questions remain about how to hold the DOT accountable for actually following the checklist.

The New York City Council passed a far-reaching traffic safety bill last week, and it could lead to morel life-saving bike lanes on major streets—that is, if the city takes it seriously.

Passing by a vote of 44-2 (with one abstention), the Vision Zero Design Standards bill would require the city’s Department of Transportation to establish a checklist of street design standards, which it then must follow whenever redesigning arterial streets. Among the safety features included in the checklist: protected bike lanes, which have a physical barrier separating cyclists from car traffic.

The veto-proof passage of the bill arrives after a two-year campaign by advocates to get the city to approve design requirements that, they argue, will help reduce traffic deaths and protect cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers alike. It also comes during what has been a bloody year for New York cyclists. The 10 cycling deaths recorded in the city so far already match last year’s total.

Protected bike lanes put a physical barrier—sometimes it’s a parking lane—between cyclists and car traffic. James Leynse Getty Images

The bill doesn’t focus exclusively on bike lanes, instead laying out a series of street improvements that planners must take into account before proceeding with a redesign. In addition to bike lanes, the DOT would have to consider wider sidewalks, pedestrian islands, and narrower car lanes.

While the bill doesn’t require actual installation, the department will have to fold the checklist into its planning process; if a certain part is left out of a redesign, the DOT will have to explain why in a public notice posted on its website.

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So the checklist isn’t legally binding, and it’s up to the mayor to make sure the DOT treats it as a mandate. But Thomas DeVito, senior director of advocacy at the pro-cycling group Transportation Alternatives, said the legislation will still make the department’s decision-making process more transparent, thereby aiding cycling activists who push for safer streets.

“The bill definitely isn’t a silver bullet, but it does add an important layer of accountability that the public can use as a tool,” DeVito said. An accessible checklist showing what the DOT did and didn’t do means cyclists “can actually start holding these decision-makers accountable for applying one standard here and another standard there.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio has not indicated how he will receive the bill. Drew Angerer Getty Images

Mayor Bill de Blasio hasn’t yet indicated whether he will sign the bill, though his administration previously seemed to oppose it, saying, “the intricacies of these decisions cannot be conveyed in a quantifiable checklist.” His office gave a statement to Bicycling in which he changed his position somewhat, saying the bill “reinforces DOT’s ongoing practice: ensuring that all safety enhancements are reviewed for any project. We thank the Council for working with the Administration on this bill.”



Whether that means de Blasio and his DOT will take the bill’s design standards to heart, or treat them as a mere formality, remains to be seen.

Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, chair of the Transportation Committee and the bill’s primary sponsor, did not respond to questions about how to ensure DOT and other mayoral officials abide by the checklist. Instead, his office pointed to a press release saying, “this important piece of legislation will provide transparency into the DOT’s street redesign process.”

While the checklist has great suggestions for improving city streets—protected bike lanes truly are necessary to encourage cycling and save lives—it won’t mean much without a way to hold the DOT’s feet to the fire. Without buy-in from the mayor, current or future, the new law will only go so far.

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