Traffic Calming
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Will Montgomery County Botch the Streets in a Model Suburban Retrofit?
Four years ago, White Flint, a neighborhood of North Bethesda, Maryland, most known for its shopping mall, caught the attention of urbanists around the nation with a proposal to reimagine car-oriented suburban streets as a walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhood. Montgomery County adopted a plan for the town that would narrow its wide arterial roadways and make them safe and accommodating for transit riders, bicyclists, and pedestrians. It was hailed as a model for other suburbs around the nation looking to become less sprawling and more walkable.
October 1, 2014
Bowing to Brooklyn CB 3, DOT Puts Bed Stuy Slow Zone on Ice
Bedford Stuyvesant won't be getting 20 mph streets after all. Despite months of talks after Brooklyn Community Board 3 rejected a request from neighborhood residents for a 20 mph Slow Zone in February, DOT has decided to pull the plug on a traffic calming plan covering 23 blocks of Bed Stuy, effectively giving the community board veto power over this street safety project.
September 11, 2014
Tonight: Important Complete Streets Meetings in Manhattan and Queens
Tonight's a big night for livable streets events, with community board meetings on proposals for Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, and Long Island City. Plus, join Streetsblog at ARTCRANK if you're looking for some fun.
September 4, 2014
Sometimes #Sneckdown Dreams Come True!
Ah yes, that's the now-famous "Snowy Neckdown Redux: Winter Traffic Calming" Streetfilm above. As you may recall, I shot the video in my Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights a few years ago to demonstrate how we could extend our curbs further into the streets to slow drivers and shorten pedestrian crossing distances. Then the idea completely blew up this winter with the #sneckdown hashtag causing a media sensation.
September 4, 2014
Removing Center Lines Reduced Speeding on London Streets
On some streets, getting drivers to stop speeding might be as easy as eliminating a few stripes. That's the finding from a new study from Transport for London [PDF].
August 15, 2014
DOT Proposes Road Diet But Only 4 Ped Islands for 35 Blocks of West End Ave
After two people were killed by motorists along one stretch of West End Avenue this year, DOT promised to calm traffic on this dangerous Upper West Side street. Before a packed house of about 200 residents last night, the agency said changes will be made in two phases, finishing by next spring. The plan: A standard road diet, taking the avenue from two lanes in each direction to one, while adding a center turn lane and widening parking lanes [PDF]. The project is an improvement over the status quo, but many residents last night wanted more.
August 1, 2014
Eyes on the Street: Carving Up Morningside Avenue for a Road Diet
After a breakthrough vote from Community Board 10 in May, DOT crews are out remaking 10 blocks of Morningside Avenue as a safer, calmer neighborhood street. This morning, @SteveMiami captured this circular saw operator at what looks like the moment of incision -- the asphalt will be cut away to make room for a concrete pedestrian island.
July 28, 2014
At Jean Chambers Vigil, Urgent Pleas for Action Before Another Life Is Lost
Yesterday evening, more than 100 people gathered on the corner of 95th Street and West End Avenue to remember 61-year-old Jean Chambers, killed last week by a turning driver while she had the "walk" signal. Jean's husband and other traffic violence victims spoke at the vigil, and Council Member Helen Rosenthal announced that in the wake of this latest death, DOT will soon redesign at least 10 blocks of West End Avenue.
July 18, 2014
One of the Most Dangerous Streets in the Bronx Is Getting a Road Diet
White Plains Road, running 2.8 miles between East Tremont and Birchall Avenues, is one of the Bronx's most dangerous streets, with more traffic deaths and severe injuries than 90 percent of the other streets in the borough. Most of this wide, overbuilt road is set to receive a road diet by September, converting two lanes to one lane in each direction while adding a striped center median and turn lane. The plan has already gained the unanimous support of both community boards along the street.
July 7, 2014
Slow Zones, Safer Arterials Win Over CBs in Manhattan and Queens
At its annual outdoor meeting in Diversity Plaza last night, Queens Community Board 3 voted to support two traffic safety projects: a new neighborhood Slow Zone in Jackson Heights and nine additional pedestrian refuge islands on Northern Boulevard, one of the borough's most dangerous arterial streets.
June 20, 2014