The city should review the design of the West Village intersection where a cargo van driver drove the wrong way down a one-way street before killing a pedestrian earlier this month, the area's Council member has demanded.
Council Member Erik Bottcher (D-West Village) said the crosswalk where 27-year-old Valerie Schoeck was struck and killed has been unsafe for years — and the Department of Transportation knows it.
"This horrific tragedy underscores the urgent need to address longstanding safety issues at this intersection and throughout the surrounding area," Bottcher wrote in a letter to lame-duck Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. "Residents and business owners have reported that wrong-way driving on this stretch of Morton Street has been a recurring problem for years.
"The combination of confusing traffic patterns, limited visibility and heavy pedestrian activity has created a dangerous condition that demands immediate attention," he added.
Bottcher sent the letter on Monday.
Yesterday we wrote to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez following the heartbreaking fatal crash on Morton Street near Seventh Avenue South, where a 27-year-old woman was struck and killed by a wrong-way driver. We’re urging the Department of Transportation to conduct a full pic.twitter.com/Gq74NowjTA
— Erik Bottcher (@ebottcher) November 11, 2025
A spokesman for the DOT said that a review had been commissioned as part of standard agency procedure after a fatal collision.
The main issue in the Nov. 6 crash is that the cargo van driver was able to turn left out of a garage on Morton Street even though only a right turn is permissible on the one-way street — a maneuver he made because otherwise he would have had to make multiple right turns to get onto Seventh Avenue South. (Zoom in below to see the angled intersection.)
The driver — a 61-year-old man whose identity has not been released by police — crashed into Schoeck as she crossed Morton Street in a crosswalk immediately after he exited the garage.
Morton Street is a narrow lane and obviously one-way, in the eastbound direction, taking drivers away from the avenue. However, there was no visible sign on the garage's ground floor at the exit identifying the street as a one-way when Streetsblog visited shortly after the wreck.
DOT records show there have been seven prior crashes resulting in injuries at the intersection over the last five years, none fatal.
