MIDTOWN EAST, NY — Construction has started on a redesign of bus lanes along a busy, eight-block stretch of Lexington Avenue, city officials said Friday.
The project will upgrade eight blocks of Lexington Avenue between East 60th Street and East 52nd Street by replacing existing curbside bus lanes with offset bus lanes, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
The change is designed to reduce illegal parking and standing in bus lanes, a major cause of delays for tens of thousands of commuters each day, officials said.
"New Yorkers deserve buses that move quickly and reliably, not buses stuck in traffic because someone decided to treat a bus lane like a parking spot," Mamdani said.
Under the new configuration, Lexington Avenue between East 60th and East 52nd streets will include two parking lanes, one bus lane and two general travel lanes.
The corridor serves about 71,000 daily bus riders traveling between Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island on routes including the BxM1, M101, M102, M103, SIM11, SIM22, SIM26 and SIM6.
According to NYC DOT, buses on the stretch currently average only about 5 mph during daytime hours because vehicles frequently block the curbside lanes for deliveries, pickups and drop-offs.
The redesign follows a similar project completed in 2019 along Lexington Avenue from East 96th Street to East 60th Street.
After curbside bus lanes were converted to offset lanes, bus speeds increased by 26 percent and pedestrian injuries dropped by 35 percent, city officials said.
The city has not yet announced when construction is expected to be completed.
For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.
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