When Does a Bike Lane Become an Economic Stimulus?

Posted by Julia Klaiber on April 22, 2010

When it's part of an alternative transportation system that puts $19 billion into New York City's economy each year.

In time for Earth Day, the New York City Department of Transportation released New York City's Green Dividend, a report by CEOs for Cities that, for the first time, aggregates the economic value of walking, biking and transit to the New York City economy.

New Yorkers would spend $19 billion more per year on auto-related expenses if, on average, they drove as much and owned as many cars as residents of other large U.S. cities. They would own a staggering 4.5 million additional cars (requiring a parking lot the size of Manhattan to hold them!), consume 2.4 billion more gallons of gas and produce 23 million more tons of carbon emissions every year.

NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced the report at our Strategy Session this week in New York, calling it "a sustainable economic model that we can't take for granted" and a reminder of "what we stand to lose if we don't keep up our investment."

New York City's Green Dividend can be downloaded here.