New York City paused a major roadway project in the heart of Manhattan designed to improve the commutes of thousands of bus riders, after the Trump administration threatened to withhold federal funding and approvals for other unnamed transit plans.
The Federal Highway Administration said in a letter on Friday that work to add dedicated bus lanes to a stretch of 34th Street, a major thruway that cuts across Manhattan, must be stopped, in part because the Trump administration had concerns about how the plan would affect truck drivers and emergency vehicles.
The new bus lanes, which the city’s Department of Transportation announced in May, were expected to speed up service along multiple routes by up to 15 percent. The lanes would run for over a mile between Third and Ninth Avenues, benefiting some 28,000 daily bus riders, city officials said.
A similar road redesign on 14th Street in Lower Manhattan has improved bus speeds there by up to 24 percent, and reduced crashes along the corridor by 42 percent, according to the Transportation Department.
Vincent Barone, a spokesman for the department, confirmed that the work had been paused while the city tried to resolve issues with the federal authorities.
“The redesign for 34th Street mirrors other street designs from across the city and allows for truck, private and emergency vehicle access on every block,” Mr. Barone said in a statement. “We are confident that the design complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations, and we will work with the federal government to advance this critical project.”
Sean Butler, a spokesman for Gov. Kathy Hochul, said her office was reviewing the letter and had been in touch with city officials.
New York City has some of the slowest buses in the United States, with an average speed of about eight miles per hour. News of the delay angered transit advocates, who have pushed for years for faster bus service.
“This is distant, federal bureaucrats meddling with badly needed improvements for bus riders,” said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the Riders Alliance, which supports the bus plan.
“They’re telling us we have to wait even longer, or maybe forever, for a fast bus? It’s outrageous,” he said.
Sean McMaster, the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, argued that the agency had a stake in the project, because the corridor connected to the national highway system. Without citing examples, Mr. McMaster said further work on the bus lanes would “risk decisions regarding pending and future federal-aid projects.”
At a news conference on Friday, Janno Lieber, the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the buses, said he was puzzled by the federal government’s recent interventions in local transit plans, but noted that he did not think the decision was final.
“I think it’s a little bizarre how much they want to get into, like, the day-to-day traffic of New York,” he said, adding: “Are you going to have to apply to the secretary of transportation if you want to have a block party?”
President Trump has set his sights on a number of major New York-area transit projects. On Wednesday, he said that over $16 billion in federal funding for Gateway, a Hudson River tunnel project, had been “terminated” because of an ongoing political feud with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.
In February, Sean Duffy, the secretary of the U.S. Transportation Department, demanded that New York end congestion pricing, a first-in-the-nation toll program designed to reduce gridlock in Manhattan. In that fight, the department a made similar reference to withholding funds from New York if the state did not comply, but a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the threats. The judge is expected to rule on whether congestion pricing can continue later this fall.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor, has made “fast and free” bus service a central campaign promise. In a social media post responding to the news, Mr. Mamdani said: “The Trump administration is once again seeking to meddle with our streets to make buses slower, worsen congestion and pollute our air.”
Andrew Cuomo, the independent candidate for mayor, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stefanos Chen is a Times reporter covering New York City’s transit system.
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