Work has begun on extending the double bus lanes of Madison Avenue 19 blocks downtown, city transportation officials are expected to announce Friday, the Daily News has learned.
The work, which is expected to take several weeks, will extend the existing stretch of double bus lanes — which currently runs from E. 42nd St. to E. 60th St. — down to E. 23rd St., speeding up bus travel for nearly 40 blocks of the northbound thoroughfare.
“Every weekday, nearly 100,000 bus riders from all five boroughs are stuck crawling along Madison Avenue at walking speed,” Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn said in a statement. “The snail’s pace of buses and the unpredictable commutes steal precious time from working New Yorkers that could otherwise be spent with their families and friends.”
According to DOT data, buses south of E. 42nd St. on Madison Avenue average a speed of about 4.5 mph — a little more than half the 8 mph average speed of a city bus. Roughly 55% of people traveling along the avenue are doing so on a bus, city data says.
North of E. 42nd St., Madison Avenue currently has two bus lanes, two lanes for other motor vehicles, and one lane for curbside parking.
South of E. 42nd St, the plan will install two bus lanes, and leave one for parking and one for other motorized traffic.
The project, which was first pitched under the administration of former mayor Eric Adams, was among the first bus improvements announced by the Mamdani administration at the start of the year.
“Today, we’re committing that we will move forward and complete this project this year,” Deputy Mayor of Operations Julia Kerson said in January. “Operations is about execution. It’s about coordination across agencies, removing barriers and making sure good projects don’t stay stuck on the shelf.”
Work has already begun removing old markings from the asphalt, a Transportation Department spokesman told The News on Thursday.
Installation of the bus lanes is expected to take several weeks.