New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on April 25, 2025, convened 400 leaders in transportation and urban planning from around the world to share and learn strategies that meaningfully advance transportation, and establish partnerships at the 2025 Equity in Motion Summit. As part of the summit, the agency released a new edition of the Street Design Manual that incorporates equity as a core street design principle. The agency also published Connected NYC: A Vision for Safer and More Equitable Streets. This report provides a cohesive framing of NYC DOT’s ongoing work and highlights ways the agency weaves equity, climate action, public engagement, and organizational excellence into its projects and programs.
“Every New Yorker, regardless of where they live, deserves access to safer, more accessible, and more welcoming streets,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “By gathering the greatest global minds in urban planning, we can work together to make our roads and transportation systems better and fairer for all.”
The Equity in Motion Summit, hosted at the CUNY Graduate Center, celebrated the steps transportation leaders across the world are taking to advance equity and featured more than 60 speakers.
The Street Design Manual is the agency's definitive guide that shapes how New York City's streets and plazas are planned, designed, and built. It is commonly recognized as an international model for other cities. The new Fourth Edition adds equity as a core street design principle, reflecting the agency’s increasing focus on creating neighborhoods with historically limited infrastructure investment as guided by the Priority Investment Areas (PIAs) identified in the NYC Streets Plan. The new edition builds on the foundation of previous versions while introducing new policies, treatments, and best practices that prioritize safety, accessibility, sustainability, and multimodal mobility in the public right-of-way, In addition to the incorporation of equity as a guiding principle to be applied to every street design project, the new edition includes several key updates to reinforce the City’s commitment to creating safer, more adaptable streets that better serve all users:
The agency also released Connected NYC: A Vision for Safer and More Equitable Streets. This report articulates the agency’s mission, vision, and core values while providing a simple way to understand the vast role the agency plays for New York City. Throughout Connected NYC, the agency presents a forward-looking vision for NYC DOT’s goals and commitments to safety, mobility, public space, infrastructure, workforce development and organizational excellence, including:
