Eyes on the Street: Bigger Sidewalk, Shorter Crossing at Riverside and 116th

riverside4

A tipster sent this photo of the sidewalk expansion underway at the corner of Riverside Drive and W. 116th Street in Manhattan. (It’s one of the elements in a DOT safety plan for Riverside that survived after the agency watered down the project at the behest of Community Board 9.)

Once the concrete is poured, the distance to walk across Riverside will be shorter and drivers will have to make slower turns onto 116th around the squared-up corner.

Image: DOT
Image: DOT
  • Andrew Gelman

    This makes me so happy! I wrote a letter to my assembly representative (Daniel O’Donnell) a few years ago, complaining about this corner. So amazing that they’re really doing it. That’s one scary corner.

  • J

    Cool! Good progress.

    Sad, though, that big slip lanes on Claremont remain. Seems like a big missed opportunity.

  • Jason

    What’s the point of the sidewalk being added to the Claremont Triangle? (Presumably east/west on it already has a triangle.)

  • Vooch

    I view This as Phase 1 of motor traffic calming on 116th & RSD

  • Jk

    Thanks DOT and CM Levine. This is a small thing in a gigantic city, but a big thing for people who live near this now much safer corner.

    PS Gelman, bring back the blue buckets!

  • com63

    people coming down the west sidewalk of Claremont were probably crossing there already. The triangle gives them a sidewalk to use.

  • Bernard Finucane

    The should eliminate the yellow stripes and use the space to widen the sidewalks. This would also add a wiggle to the drive lane.

  • AMH

    Yeah, what is the point of that slip lane anyway? Could be a nice bucolic park space.

  • MatthewEH

    Hah – this is my immediate neighborhood, and I actually went this way on Thursday morning and saw the construction.

    Honestly, relatively few people make the right turn from RSD here, as 116th is not a through street between Broadway and Amsterdam but is, rather, the main strollway across the Columbia main campus. But every little bit helps.

  • Tyson White

    I’ve seen this on a few other intersections in the neighborhood. It also keeps drivers from idling in the crosswalk.

    I hope this is the standard when doing any construction.

  • Vooch

    My NYC born and raised teenager and I Walked Past on Sunday, He thought it was unfair to Drivers because it made so difficult to turn.

    Where did I go Wrong ?

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