A plan to slow drivers and provide safer crossings for pedestrians along Morningside Avenue in Harlem is on the agenda for Manhattan Community Board 9's full board meeting tonight. A positive vote would set the stage for CB 10, which also covers the project area and has a history of stalling livable streets projects, to take action.
The centerpiece of the Morningside Avenue plan, first presented to the community boards in September after it was requested by the North Star Neighborhood Association, is a road diet that would trim the street from two lanes in each direction to one. The plan adds a striped median with left-turn lanes and concrete pedestrian islands and also dramatically improves the angled pedestrian crossing at the split of Hancock Place and 125th Street.
The resolution supporting the plan unanimously passed CB 9's transportation committee on November 7, after it was delayed at September's full board meeting. It asks DOT to consider feedback from the joint forum the community boards co-hosted in October, including requests for brighter street lighting along the west side of the street adjacent to Morningside Park and improved pedestrian crossings at 124th Street.
DOT has indicated that it is unlikely to move forward with the project without community board support. City Council Member-elect Mark Levine, who will recommend community board appointments, told Streetsblog last month that he hopes CB 9's full board votes to support the plan.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at The Fortune Society, 630 Riverside Drive. The public is invited to speak during a comment session at tonight's meeting.
