Preparations for the Open Streets season are in the final stages. Those of you who have walked the avenue recently may have noticed that barriers and equipment are on-site and flyers and posters are going up! But when DOT dropped off the equipment last week, we noticed something odd — we didn’t get anywhere near the number of cones we need. Traffic cones are an important part of the setup on Vanderbilt. They allow us to clearly mark the bike lane along the entire avenue. Without them, cyclists and pedestrians would be intermixed and this could lead to dangerous situations.

After a little more digging, it seems like Eric Adams may not have ordered traffic cones for DOT in over a year! Every year cones are damaged or disappear, so not replacing them means there is a citywide shortage. Sadly, we’re not making this up.

So we’re trying something fun to offset the cost of buying our own cones. For every person who donates $30 or more (roughly the cost of one cone), we’ll print your name on a cone that is used on the avenue this summer! If you want to give more, that’s great! Check out the tiers of giving to support the cones we need to keep everyone safe:

$30 — Safety Supporter
$50-100 — Open Street Star
$100-250 — Bike Lane Defender
$250-500 — Car-free Champion
$500+ — Cone Zone Hero

If you’d like to adopt a cone, make a new contribution within these tiers and then let us know at openstreets@phndc.org how you want to be listed!

We cannot thank the Vanderbilt Open Street community enough for your continued support. We’re lining up fan-favorite programming to return this year, and we look forward to making Saturdays on Vanderbilt the best day of the week for everyone this summer!