If you bike — or walk — along Sixth Avenue in Midtown, you’re about to get a lot more room. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn announced today, May 20, that the city will widen the protected bike lane on Sixth Avenue between West 14th and West 31st streets from six feet to ten feet, and expand pedestrian space through Herald Square. The project is timed to complete before World Cup matches kick off in June.
For anyone who has ever been squeezed against the concrete barrier on that corridor, this is welcome news. One car travel lane on Sixth Avenue is being removed, and that space goes directly to bikes and people on foot.
What’s Actually Changing
Between West 14th and West 31st streets, the existing six-foot protected bike lane grows to ten feet — wide enough for cyclists to pass side by side and give parked truck doors the clearance they require. Between West 31st and West 35th streets through Herald Square, the current five-foot bike lane stays in place, but nine feet of new expanded pedestrian space will be added alongside it, pushing foot traffic back from the roadway in one of Midtown’s busiest walking zones.
According to NYC DOT, the stretch of Sixth Avenue between 13th and 35th streets was designated a “Vision Zero Corridor” after 29 traffic deaths and severe injuries between 2019 and 2023. The wider lane is the city’s formal response to that record.
Why It Matters for Manhattan Residents and Commuters
Sixth Avenue is already one of the most-traveled bike corridors in Manhattan. The section south of 14th Street received a double-wide lane treatment in 2024, and DOT reported that in the full year after installation, crash injuries fell from 26 to 21, even as ridership increased. Similar upgrades on Ninth Avenue, Third Avenue, and Second Avenue have collectively reduced deaths and serious injuries for all road users by 30 percent, the agency said.
Daily bike trips over the East River bridges reached nearly 29,000 in 2025 — almost 18 times the 1980 count. The infrastructure is catching up to the demand that already exists on these streets. “What better way to welcome the World Cup than by making our streets safer and more accessible for everyone who uses them?” Mayor Mamdani said in today’s announcement.
DOT Commissioner Flynn said the project would be completed before World Cup matches begin. Council Member Carl Wilson, whose district includes the corridor, called it “a guarantee of protected biking in one of the most highly traversed corridors in the city.”
How This Fits the Larger Policy Picture
This announcement is part of a broader street-safety push from the Mamdani administration. Earlier this week, the city’s proposed budget allocated dedicated new funding for bus lanes and bike infrastructure citywide, enabling DOT to move projects faster. Sixth Avenue’s widening is one of the first concrete deliverables of that posture.
Manhattan’s relationship with Sixth Avenue bike infrastructure goes back to 1978, when Mayor Koch installed a protected lane after a trip to China, then removed it a year later under pressure from car-traffic advocates. The current protected lane has been rebuilt piecemeal over the years. This week’s expansion continues that long arc under a mayor who has made street design a defining issue of his term.
What You Need to Know
- What’s changing: Sixth Avenue protected bike lane widens from 6 to 10 feet between W. 14th and W. 31st streets; 9 feet of new pedestrian space added through Herald Square (W. 31st to W. 35th).
- Timeline: Installation targeted for completion before June 2026 World Cup matches.
- How: One car travel lane on Sixth Avenue is being removed to create the wider footprint.
- Why: 29 deaths and severe injuries on this Vision Zero corridor between 2019 and 2023 triggered priority treatment.
- Announced by: Mayor Mamdani and DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn, May 20, 2026.
- Citi Bike riders: Docking station access is not disrupted by the new configuration.
If you ride Sixth Avenue regularly, expect construction marking and some temporary lane shifts as the work gets underway in the coming weeks. For other Manhattan bike routes, see the HelpNewYork NYC bike guide. And if you spot a dangerous condition on the corridor, file a report via NYC 311 — it routes directly to DOT.
