[J. Will]

The thing with Manhattan is that those wide Avenues weren't always that wide. The sidewalks were originally much wider than they are now, but they were narrowed to add car lanes decades ago. Of course, if they tried to revert that now (and reduce one or more lane from every Avenue), there'd be massive outcry from the car-owning minority. There already has been with the bike lanes, even where they have only narrowed the car lanes, and not reduced their number.