Eyes on the Street: Union Square Chairs, Slow Speed Zones, PS 36’s Batcave

Broadway at the northwest corner of Union Square. Photo: c34/Flickr
Broadway at the northwest corner of Union Square. Photo: ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/8698135@N07/4993752378/##c34/Flickr##

Construction season seems to be peaking with a lot of changes underway on the streets. Here’s a sample of what readers have posted to the Streetsblog Flickr pool and sent to our tips account during the past week, starting with some scenes from Union Square’s public space makeover and the extension of Broadway’s “green ribbon.”

eyes_union_square_north
Photo: ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/bicyclesonly/4988195316/##BicyclesOnly/Flickr##

The seating on the north side of 17th Street was a hit the moment it went in last week…

eyes_union_square_north_2
Photo: ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/bicyclesonly/4988194838/##BicyclesOnly/Flickr##

…and so was the seating around the corner on Broadway.

eyes_eighth_ave
Photo: ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/8698135@N07/4993756912/##c34/Flickr##

The extension of the Eighth Avenue protected bike lane from 23rd Street to 34th Street is in progress.

Photo: Glenn McAnanama
Photo: Glenn McAnanama

NYC DOT’s expansion of slow-speed zones is calming traffic on 123rd Street between Amsterdam and Morningside, a block that’s home to four schools. Traffic volume is low here, reports reader Glenn McAnanama, tempting drivers to speed on a street where children are constantly crossing. DOT put in two speed humps on the block, accompanied by these 15 mph signs.

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Photo: Glenn McAnanama

The same block is home to this cave-like parking structure for teachers and staff at PS 36, Glenn tells us.

  • Glenn

    For added historical context to the last two photos, you would be able to see Grant’s Tomb looking west on 123rd Street if the Manhattan School of Music had not be able to construct their highrise, forever blocking the view of a beautiful monument to a major historical figure. Also, PS 36 is built on the former Northwestern entrance to Morningside park AND the former site of the 1812 “Blockhouse No. 4” on top of the large Rock outcropping there. See Forgotten-NY for more details: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SLICES/123st/123.html

  • These are great pictures! Thanks for collecting and sharing them!

  • I observed a couple almost amazing things at the redesigned intersection of 17th and Broadway on Tuesday, around 3pm:

    Right there there are two of those big planters. One had been knocked over, evidently by a vehicle, and the plants and dirt that had been inside it were strewn out on the ground of the beige pedestrian space. Two passersby, and then another, righted the planter, and started picking up the plants and dirt and trying to put them back.

    A couple minutes later, an old woman saw me watching what was going on and told me that it was indeed a truck that had knocked over the planter. She spoke condemningly about the driver (“he didn’t even care. He just kept going.”), and said it was a real shame that drivers behave that way around here after the city had gone to all this effort and expense “to make this all nice and new for people.”

  • jsd

    That cave says “You’re going to bring your car? Well go to your hole.”

    Awesome.

  • J

    The speed humps, while good for traffic calming, may not be part of the 20mph speed zones discussed in the ped safety report.

  • ChrisCoo

    Great pictures. I’d like to see someone give a video tour of the improvements and put it up on Youtube.

  • dave

    and now it takes me and extra 10 minutes to get through this area. thanks!

  • J. Mork

    And who the hell are you?

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