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How NYC Uses Its Curb Space

Charts in this post: Rikers Population Better Billion Projects School Funding NYC Curb Allocation
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Transportation April 2026

How NYC Uses Its Curb Space

NYC has roughly 12,000 linear miles of curb, and about 62% of it is dedicated to storing cars. Only 5% supports protected bike or bus infrastructure. Incoming DOT Chief Strategy Officer Tiffany-Ann Taylor will be managing this real estate. Every new bike lane or bus lane is, in practice, a conversion of parking into something else.

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62%
of curb space dedicated to car storage (free + metered parking)
5%
of curb space used for protected bike lanes + bus lanes
~12,000
total linear curb miles (both sides of ~6,300 centerline miles)
NYC Curb Space Allocation
Approximate breakdown of ~12,000 linear curb miles (both sides of all streets). Source: NYC DOT Curb Management Strategy, 2021.
Created by Tal Roded · NYCuriosity

Total curb mileage: NYC has approximately 6,300 centerline miles of streets (NYC DOT). On both sides, this yields roughly 12,000–12,600 linear curb miles. This visualization uses 12,000 miles as a round-number baseline.

Allocation estimates: Category breakdowns are based on the NYC DOT Curb Management Strategy (2021) and related DOT data. These are city-wide averages; actual allocation varies by neighborhood and changes by time of day (e.g., commercial loading zones become parking overnight).

Protected bike lanes (~3%): NYC had approximately 387 miles of protected bike lanes as of 2024 (NYC DOT Record of Accomplishment). As one-way infrastructure, this represents roughly 3% of total curb mileage.

Dedicated bus lanes (~2%): NYC had approximately 68 miles of dedicated bus lanes as of 2024. These run in the curb lane and are counted here as active transit infrastructure.

Free vs. metered parking: The majority of NYC parking is free and unregulated, roughly 54% of all curb. Only ~8% is metered. The DOT Curb Management Strategy documented the dominant role of unmetered parking as a first step toward rethinking how curb space is allocated.