Bold new design for Broadway revealed

What if Broadway looked like this?

What do you think about a meandering tree-lined walking and bike path running down the middle of Broadway?

Pretty bold idea, right?

That is exactly what the city is considering building on Broadway between 25th and 42nd Streets. It could look like the picture above (a plan for a similar street in Philadelphia).

Today, that one mile stretch of Broadway is four lanes of traffic (two in each direction) with no on-street parking.

The new plan would make the area much more pedestrian friendly, and remove the "highway" type of feeling you get from the roadway.

Instead of two lanes in each direction, there would be one. The extra room would be used for a center median that would be wide enough for a landscaped bike and walking path and benches. Imagine a mile-long linear park running down the middle of Broadway!

The new design would also allow for intermittent on-street parking as the path curved back and forth down the roadway. The parking wouldn't be along the far outsides of the roadway. It would be alongside the center median (similar to the photo below).

This is the most innovative redesign idea for Broadway that the city has come up with. So what's the catch? Just one: It all needs to be approved by the state Department of Transportation.

FDOT needs to sign off on the idea because Broadway is an FDOT road.

But city engineers are getting the FDOT sales pitch ready, and are also working on getting state funding for the project.

Stay tuned!