NYC DOT Plans to Expand Street-Activity Sensors to 100 Locations
The department says it will add sensors at about 80 locations across the five boroughs, using continuous counts of pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles to inform safer street design.
By Leo Wang · October 5, 2026 · 3 min read
NEW YORK — New York City plans to expand its street-activity sensor network this year, adding about 80 locations to an initial group tested at 20 intersections, the Department of Transportation said June 2. The agency says the additional installations will bring the total to 100 locations across the five boroughs. The small devices are intended to provide a more continuous picture of how pedestrians, cyclists, buses and other vehicles move through city streets than periodic manual counts can offer.
The sensors can count road users, measure speeds, capture turning movements and map travel patterns, according to DOT. The agency says the data could help it assess street redesigns, identify locations where near-miss patterns suggest safety concerns and decide how to allocate space among people walking, cycling and driving. For example, the department said the data may show where people regularly cross mid-block, information planners could use when evaluating whether a formal crossing is appropriate.
DOT says privacy protections are built into the system: video is processed in real time and immediately discarded, while faces and license plates are deliberately obscured and only anonymous data are retained. The agency’s June announcement describes sensors mounted on city street infrastructure and says deployments will span commercial corridors and residential neighborhoods. The release includes an image of a traffic-operations worker installing a device in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, but does not provide a complete public schedule for all 80 additional locations.
The planned expansion builds on a pilot first conducted in 2023, when sensors were tested at 20 intersections across all five boroughs. The new phase shifts the project from a limited trial toward a broader data-gathering network, though DOT has not published a site-by-site installation timetable in the announcement. The value of the system will depend on whether its continuous counts help the city identify street-safety problems earlier and evaluate whether design changes work over time.