Pedestrian Infrastructure
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Denny Farrell at Uptown Ped Safety Meeting: “I Drive Everywhere”
The intersection of 155th Street, Edgecombe Avenue, St. Nicholas Place, and Harlem River Driveway is a busy, complex web where pedestrians jockey with turning drivers to cross wide expanses of asphalt. DOT began studying the location after a request from Council Member Robert Jackson. A final design and community board review is months away, but at a meeting two weeks ago, DOT outlined some suggested fixes. Another notable development at the meeting: The Assembly member representing the area -- Herman "Denny" Farrell, the powerful chair of the Ways and Means Committee -- declared that he drives everywhere in his transit-dependent district.
August 27, 2013
Julissa Ferreras Spotlights Ped Medians, Plazas in NY1 Tour of Her District
On a tour of her council district in East Elmhurst and Corona with Errol Louis of NY1 on Friday, Council Member Julissa Ferreras highlighted two livable streets projects: Corona Plaza, a popular gathering spot near the 7 train, and wider medians on Astoria Boulevard to help seniors cross the street.
August 26, 2013
Eyes on the Street: Traffic Calming, 20 MPH Zone at Williamsbridge Oval
Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem isn't the only green space receiving traffic calming improvements this summer. In the Bronx, Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval waged a fight with DOT to get crosswalks and pedestrian space near their park in the Norwood neighborhood. Now, a plan [PDF] presented to Community Board 7 this spring has been implemented.
August 23, 2013
Meet Streetmix, the Website Where You Can Design Your Own Street
Last fall, Lou Huang was at a community meeting for the initiative to redesign Second Street in San Francisco. Planners handed out paper cutouts, allowing participants to mix and match to create their ideal street. Huang, an urban designer himself, thought the exercise would make for a great website. Now, after months of work beginning at a January hackathon with colleagues at Code for America, it is a great website.
August 12, 2013
Queens Residents, Elected Officials Ask DOT for Traffic Calming in Dutch Kills
The Dutch Kills neighborhood sits on the northern edge of Long Island City, hemmed in by Northern Boulevard and Queens Plaza, with the East River to the west and Astoria to the north. Dangerous traffic is an everyday presence -- and not just on the main arteries nearby. After a number of car-on-car crashes, neighborhood advocates joined with elected officials yesterday, calling on DOT to implement traffic-calming measures.
July 18, 2013
Eyes on the Street: Adam Clayton Powell Now Safer, With or Without CB 10
Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, connecting Macombs Dam Bridge to Central Park, has long been a dangerous speedway. DOT clocked drivers traveling as fast as 52 mph on the six-lane divided road, with up to two-thirds of evening drivers going above the 30 mph speed limit. Between 2006 and 2012, twelve pedestrians were killed on the boulevard, which sees more serious injuries and fatalities than 88 percent of Manhattan streets.
July 16, 2013
Brooklyn CB 6 Reverses Course, Supports Fourth Avenue Traffic Calming
One month after Brooklyn Community Board 6 passed a resolution condemning DOT's safety proposal for Fourth Avenue, upending months of public workshops and the decision of its own transportation committee, the full board voted 21-3, with two abstentions, to support a modified version of the plan at a special meeting last night.
July 11, 2013
City Releases New Design Recommendations for Sidewalks
Last month at the the eighth Fit City conference, the same day DOT unveiled a new pedestrian wayfinding initiative, the city released an update to its Active Design Guidelines focusing specifically on sidewalk design. Although the new guidelines are just suggestions, the new document lays out a vision for how the city's sidewalks can be designed to encourage more walking, and it has the imprimatur of the mayor and the commissioners of transportation, city planning, health, and design and construction.
July 9, 2013
DOT Unveils WalkNYC Wayfinding System, Set to Go Citywide Next Year
The Manhattan grid is simple enough to navigate, but throughout the city, it's still easy for tourists and locals alike to get turned around. To help people find their way on foot, the the city is launching WalkNYC, its new pedestrian wayfinding initiative. This afternoon, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan kicked off the program at a newly-installed sign at the corner of Mulberry and Worth in Chinatown.
June 24, 2013
Eyes on the Street: First Avenue Protected Bike Lane Extends Uptown
Our most recent progress report on the protected bike lanes for East Harlem and the Upper East Side came last October, when crews installed the bike lane and pedestrian refuges on Second Avenue between 100th Street and 125th Street. Last year also saw the construction of a protected bike lane on First Avenue between the Queensboro Bridge and 72nd Street. Now, long-time reader Jacob sends in photos of the latest extension on First Avenue, which will stretch up to 125th Street.
May 6, 2013