But on Friday afternoon, a judge blocked New York City’s proposal pending an appeal. The plan would give Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses priority on 14th Street, along with trucks and emergency vehicles.

It’s the second time in two months that a court blocked the rollout of the plan. Hours after the judge’s decision on Friday, Mayor de Blasio said on Twitter that the city would continue to “fight to get this done for bus riders.”

Opponents of the project said the city would simply be directing cars onto side streets while making only marginal improvements on bus speeds.

C ars and buses often crawl along 14th Street , a crosstown route for about 21,000 vehicles a day.

In a shift from earlier years, policymakers across the country are testing the idea that public transit users and cyclists should have priority on public roads, rather than motorists. My colleague Winnie Hu wrote that it was “a moment of reckoning — and, cars, which once had absolute hegemony over the streets, are losing.”

Some supporters and opponents of the plan agree on at least one thing: It could be a lot better.

What is the city’s plan for 14th Street?