Traffic Calming

This week's barrage of snow and ice has made sneckdown spotting an international pastime. We may never look at slush piles the same way again.

A plan to improve pedestrian safety on speeding-plagued Morningside Avenue in Harlem, supported by one community board but stalled by another, is on track for months of additional meetings as DOT goes back to the drawing board.

This afternoon, Assembly Member Joseph Lentol announced that he's sent a letter to Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg asking for 20 mph speed limits on the busiest, deadliest roads in his district.

The #sneckdown is now a phenomenon, with nature's traffic-calming gaining international media coverage and photos popping up from across the U.S. and Canada.

While Manhattan Community Board 10 fails to take action, proposed measures to make Morningside Avenue safer for pedestrians continue to languish.

A 10-block road diet proposed for Morningside Avenue in Harlem continues to face resistance from Manhattan Community Board 10. In the latest development, it seems the transportation committee chair of CB 10 is trying to convince neighboring Community Board 9, which contains the west side of the avenue, to amend its vote in favor of the road diet and fight against it instead. Meanwhile, Council Member Mark Levine says DOT has heard more than enough input from the community boards and urged the agency to move ahead with the project.

A week after Nicole Detweiler was killed while walking on McGuinness Boulevard -- at least the third person to be struck and killed on the street in the last five years -- Council Member Steve Levin sent a letter to incoming Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg asking her to prioritize traffic calming and and speed cameras on the busy multi-lane road cutting through Greenpoint [PDF]:

Streetsblog asked and you delivered. Earlier we sent out a call for photos of snowy streets where drivers or plows had cleared a path while leaving much of the remaining the asphalt untouched. It's an easy way to visualize the opportunities for permanent sidewalk extensions like like neckdowns and bulb-outs -- but you have to snap a photo before it melts.

How is the first snowstorm of the de Blasio era treating you?