Featuring David Byrne and Janette Sadik-Khan, the new documentary Changing Lanes investigates why our streets are designed the way they are, and what it will take to make them safer and more livable.

When a beloved teacher is tragically killed in a hit-and-run crash in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a grassroots movement emerges to transform a notoriously dangerous four-lane boulevard into a safer, two-lane street with protected bike lanes. While many applaud the proposed change, it also sparks a backlash – led in part by a powerful local business owner. As government support begins to waver, neighbors unite to challenge entrenched interests and fight for a safer Greenpoint.

Changing Lanes situates this local struggle within broader historical, environmental, political, and social contexts through interviews with politicians, activists, urban planners, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons including musician David Byrne and legendary urban planner Janette Sadik-Khan – a compelling call to action for democracy at street level.

"Changing Lanes is more than a film about bikes and public space. It’s about who wields power, what defines a community, and how regular citizens can organize in the face of deep corruption and other seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It is very much a movie made for the political and cultural moment the country finds itself in right now." - Doug Gordon, Co-host, The War on Cars podcast

"Made by a bicyclist, largely filmed from aboard a bicycle, featuring cyclists illustrious and ordinary, Changing Lanes is charged with the energy of urban cycling – New York cycling. Like no other film, Changing Lanes makes clear that bicyclists are the passionate heart of the livable streets movement." - Charles Komanoff, Transportation Economist & Environmental Activist

"More than a story about one street, Changing Lanes offers a vivid case study in how grassroots movements take shape: the resistance to change, the grip of the status quo, the messiness of political processes, the wins and setbacks, and the mix of strategy, timing, and luck that ultimately drives – or derails – change in our cities." - Marcia Ely, Director of Programs, Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library

"Great streets aren't built – they are fought for and they are won. In recounting the battle for a single bike lane in Brooklyn, Changing Lanes tells the story of every city struggling to wrest back its streets and reimagine them for people." - Janette Sadik-Khan, NYC Transportation Commissioner (2007–2013)

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Changing Lanes
Director/Producer/Cinematography Ben Wolf
Edited by Kristin Bye
Archive Producer Prudence Arndt
Music Composer Andrew Maroko
75 minutes, color, 2025
© 2025 Topiary Productions, Inc.