DOT Announces Spring Forum on Dyckman Greenway Connector

Proposed Dyckman Street redesign presented by residents to the CB12 transpo committee in February ’08

Is the city finally taking action on a citizen proposal to connect Manhattan’s east- and west-side Greenways with a safer Dyckman Street?

In December, Upper Manhattan advocates were disappointed to learn that DOT had no plans to study a cycle track-equipped Dyckman Greenway Connector, first suggested in early 2008, until it completed a neighborhood traffic study focused on Inwood’s Sherman Creek area. This news contradicted an earlier indication to chair Mark Levine that the agency planned to issue a report on the connector idea to the Community Board 12 transportation committee this month. The committee formally asked DOT to explore the concept in November 2008.

Streetsblog made repeated attempts in December to obtain details on what, if anything, was in the works for Dyckman Street, but DOT would not answer our questions.

Last night, however, DOT’s Josh Orzeck announced that a Dyckman corridor charette would be held in March or April, reports Levine, “to present a number of possibilities and seek input from local residents.” According to Levine, Orzeck said the connector proposal “has gained quite a constituency within the agency.”

A spring charette jibes with last month’s update, and seems to represent the most solid commitment DOT has offered Dyckman Connector proponents to this point. But the requested CB 12 report has yet to take shape, and the pending Sherman Creek analysis is at least the second study DOT has held up as a precursor to further action (Orzeck cited a Dyckman intersection study in October 2008).

Still, if the charette does in fact occur, it will be the first tangible sign that the city is at last paying attention to a major safe streets proposal that Upper Manhattanites have doggedly pursued for the past two years.