Lower Manhattan is the historical city center. You can't simply "make it wider" any more than you can make historic Rome or historic Paris "wider". Even if you

Lower Manhattan is the historical city center. You can't simply "make it wider" any more than you can make historic Rome or historic Paris "wider". Even if you make lower Manahattan pedestrian only, that won't fix the congestion problem because New Yorkers already regularly walk on the roads when there isn't enough room on the sidewalks. In other words, the sidewalks are already "wider". This is also why adding dedicated bike lanes is tricky. Bikes are avoiding pedestrians on the road/bike lanes, not other cars.