Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project: Ten Years On

March 1996:
Residents in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Boerum Hill are tired of their streets absorbing overflow from the nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Neighborhood groups have tried repeatedly to convince the City to protect the neighborhoods from rush hour through traffic. So far, the City has done nothing but promise further study. DOT officials have even criticized residents for not wanting to serve as doormats for Manhattan-bound motorists. Residents are now considering civil disobedience to protect their safety and quality of life….

October 2006:
Donald Gianchetta looks out from his Atlantic Avenue antique shop – which cost him more than $70,000 to restore after a cab went flying through the front window last year – and watches an endless stream of cars speeding past. “This strip is just a highway,” he says. “Three of my workers have been hit just trying to cross the street here,” he said. “It’s out of control, this area. Something absolutely must be done. Just the other week a dear friend of mine died because of this madness”… City Transportation Department officials noted Atlantic Ave. is a busy city thoroughfare and said several improvements, such as longer pedestrian crossing times to increase safety, already have been implemented.