Transforming NYC Streets: A Conversation with Janette Sadik-Khan

With San Francisco about to embark on its first pilot street closure, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit this conversation with the Open Planning Project's Executive Director, Mark Gorton, and New York City's Commissioner of the Department of Transportation, Janette Sadik-Khan, who has taken on the challenge of transforming NYC streets in a series of groundbreaking pilot projects.

By Bryan Goebel

2:27 PM PDT on March 27, 2009

With San Francisco about to embark on its first pilot street closure, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit this conversation with the Open Planning Project’s Executive Director, Mark Gorton, and New York City’s Commissioner of the Department of Transportation, Janette Sadik-Khan, who has taken on the challenge of transforming NYC streets in a series of groundbreaking pilot projects.

As Clarence Eckerson Jr. noted in the original post last October, she and her staff have done the projects quickly with innovative concepts, thinking outside the box and drawing on successful street designs from around the world to come up with a NYC model that looks like it may catch on in San Francisco.

In this Streetfilms interview, she highlights what her department has achieved in a very short period of time, including a physically-separated bike lane on Ninth Avenue, multiple pedestrian plazas (including Madison Square and Broadway Boulevard), new efforts to boost efficiency and speeds on some bus routes, and the city’s phenomenally successful, Ciclovia-style street closure “Summer Streets.”

Bryan Goebel

Bryan Goebel is a reporter at KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. A veteran journalist and writer, he helped launch Streetsblog SF in 2009 and served as editor for three years. He lives car-free in the Castro District.