Downside of Lower Manhattan’s Boom: It’s Too Crowded
&gt; Just to get to his apartment in the financial district, he has to contend with hordes of commuters and selfie-snapping tourists clogging narrow sidewalks.<p>So make the sidewalks wider. I can think of nowhere in the US more appropriate to allocate more space to sidewalks than Manhattan.<p>&gt; Ms. Starr, for one, has all but stopped using the Citi Bike system to commute. She used to ride from her apartment in TriBeCa to her office on Maiden Lane in the financial district nearly every day. But as more pedestrians and cyclists filled the streets, she had to concentrate to avoid running into anyone or being run into.<p>Sounds like they need separated bike lanes then.<p>Manhattan is the densest major city* in the country. The amount of space allocated to cars on the roads should be the bare minimum: enough for emergency vehicles, business deliveries, surface transit, the handicapped, a limited number of taxis. With only a tiny amount of space per person, you really have to push for denser forms of transportation. Personal vehicle use should be at a minimum in Manhattan.<p>&gt; In Lower Manhattan, people are not the only obstacle. Construction on streets and buildings is everywhere. A labyrinth of imposing metal scaffolding hems in available walkways and forces pedestrians closer together, or into the street.<p>The solution here is to cut into space on the road to provide more walking space.<p>* I know it&#x27;s only part of a city but you know what I mean