New York City's quest to build 300 miles of bike lanes is coming up short. Here are some reasons why.
NEW YORK -- Cyclist deaths in New York City reached a 24-year-high in 2023, yet Mayor Eric Adams is nowhere near his goal of building hundreds of miles of protected bikes lines.
CBS News New York investigative reporter Tim McNicholas asked the mayor why on Monday.
A protected bike lane is the kind with a barrier between cyclists and car traffic. The kind Adams promised to build 300 miles of in his first four years.
McNicholas pointed out to the mayor that in his first two years in office the city built just 58, and asked if more will be built.
"That's a desire to do so. The goal is, and it's very important to me and I've said this over and over again, I'm a biker and I enjoy riding. But there are those who are not bikers, and we get a lot of concern that people have throughout the year on how do we go about building out the bike lanes," Adams said.
NYC's work is "way, way, way behind"
Adams campaigned as a cyclist candidate.
"Protect the bike lanes. That's crucial," he said back in 2021.
But for Nina Sabghir, hope cycled into disappointment.
"I think we were all really hopeful," Sabghir said. "The work that the city has said that they would do is way, way, way behind."
Sabghir fractured her femur when a man opened the door of his parked car just as she was riding eastbound on Foster Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Ten years later, she says one thing is still broken.
McNicholas pointed out that he didn't see a bike lane, to which Sabghir responded, "I don't either. There is no bike lane. There wasn't then, there isn't now."
There are some bikes lanes on other streets in the area, but city records show she'd have to travel two and a half miles from the accident site to find the nearest protected bike lane headed east toward her destination.
NYC mum on its 2024 progress
The city has refused to reveal the number of protected bike lane miles it has built so far this year.
Sabghir is a member of a nonprofit that tracks bike lanes called Transportation Alternatives, which says it only knows of two and a half miles built in 2024. The goal laid out in a city law and the city's annual streets plan is 50 miles, as it was last year, when the city built 32.
"Many factors that come into play when you build out the bike lanes, that painting can only be done in certain times of the year. It depends what our contractor bandwidth is for that year," Deputy Mayor Meer Joshi said.
As for how the number of protected bikes lines in the New York City compares to the rest of the country, officials say the miles the Big Apple built last year were more than every other major U.S. city combined.
So will the city meet its goal this year? McNicholas asked the deputy mayor that question and she said the city won't know until the end of the year so CBS News New York Investigates should check back then -- and it will.
Parking frustrations beginning to boil over in Queens
Meanwhile in Bayside, Queens, residents are frustrated about a lack of parking.
"Terrible. It has just rearranged the whole neighborhood. People are scrambling when they get home from the evening to find parking," resident Gabriel Columbus said.
Sabghir, on the other hand, said the mayor needs to do more to protect cyclists and to keep his promises.
"The silly thing about it is then if the next year they say our goal is 50 miles, they're forgetting that they're already 20 miles short," Sabghir said.