Boo, 2 out of the 5 “pedestrian” safety projects are bike projects! What about Delancey St?

@91b1ad37351e16814add6b0181d39bae:disqus Glad you asked that.

The West Side bike lanes and the park road diets are only “bike projects” in the narrowest sense. Actually I’m not sure why the park improvements would be considered bike projects at all. Maybe they were designed by DOT’s bike team? In any case, we’ve repeatedly seen a huge drop in pedestrian injuries after DOT installs protected bike lanes with refuges, and the park road diets will make a big difference for the primary users of the parks, who are pedestrians.

Delancey Street is a great project that will make a difference, but I snubbed it for lack of ambition. It’s the low-hanging fruit, the city made choices that deferred to traffic flow, and there’s a lot more than needs to be done there.

I have to admit that I am a bit shocked that
the recent pedestrian improvements near the Holland Tunnel on Varick and Hudson
Streets were not included. To state the obvious, the Holland Tunnel is
synonymous with endless traffic, aggressive driving, and dangerous conditions
for pedestrians. The five pedestrian plazas that were installed this fall were
the first formal push to acknowledge the existence of pedestrians on the streets
near the Tunnel and the importance of their safety. These were desperately
needed improvements, especially after a person was killed crossing one of the
intersections that now has a plaza, not to mention the myriad of people injured
on those streets. Moreover, they created public space replete with planters in
an area that is completely underserved by open space and greenery.

As for Delancey, yes of course, there is more
to be done, but I would rather see actions towards improving pedestrian safety
now by the City rather than waiting on more ambitious, timely initiatives at
the cost of perhaps another pedestrian’s life! I think it is a noble, welcomed
effort at transforming a precarious speedway.  

@b531a7108e7163b6ce503d4f7ffac621:disqus Like I said, I think Delancey Street is a great project. The street is much improved and the people who worked to redesign it have saved lives. I agree that all redesigns make concessions to traffic flow to some extent, otherwise we’d have protected bike lanes, exclusive transitways, and abundantly wide sidewalks everywhere. It’s mainly a question of degree — in Noah’s coverage of this project, there’s a distinct sense that DOT was more timid than necessary. The general sentiment at the public meeting where they unveiled the project was that it didn’t go far enough, and Dan Squadron was promising to push for a future round of improvements before the night was over.

In terms of pure safety impact, my guess is that the Delancey Street project will prevent more pedestrian injuries than the park road diets will, but less than the West Side bike lanes will. 50 blocks of narrower right-of-way for cars, including some of the most walked-upon streets in the city, is huge and merits a double nomination in my book.