Traffic Calming

According to Harlem's Community Board 10, there is apparently no such thing as a street redesign worth pursuing. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours Tuesday night, members of the board's transportation committee declined to support a road diet for Morningside Avenue, attacked a community-based street safety plan installed on Mount Morris Park West, and asked DOT to reconsider Select Bus Service on 125th Street again -- this time on the pretense that it would harm the elderly and disabled.

In Gabe Klein’s exit interview with Chicago Mag, the outgoing transportation commissioner predicted that in the next few years, cities will be paying more attention to the correlation between lawbreaking by drivers and other kinds of crime.

Earlier this month, NYC DOT put out a major new report, Making Safer Streets [PDF], that collects before-and-after data from dozens of street redesigns and distills five key principles to reduce traffic injuries. The excitement of election week overshadowed the release, but this is an important document that livable streets supporters will want to bookmark. It's an accessible guide to how DOT approaches the task of re-engineering streets for greater safety.

A plan to slow drivers and provide safer crossings for pedestrians along Morningside Avenue in Harlem is on the agenda for Manhattan Community Board 9's full board meeting tonight. A positive vote would set the stage for CB 10, which also covers the project area and has a history of stalling livable streets projects, to take action.

A big new pedestrian space next to a busy Harlem park, installed last summer as part of a community board-backed traffic calming plan, is being scaled down by the agency that created it. Why the change? DOT says it’s responding to complaints that the original design created too much space for pedestrians, and not enough for double-parked drivers.

WNYC has put together a map showing that the majority of streets in New York City are close to a school -- meaning that, according to state law, the speed limit on those streets can be lowered to 20 miles per hour without Albany's approval:

Few people have ever accused Manhattan Community Board 7 of expiditiously resolving to do something about dangerous streets. After devoting two hours last night to discussing a resolution asking DOT for a complete street study of Amsterdam Avenue (which the board's transportation committee passed last month), CB 7's reputation for inaction and delay remained intact: The board voted 28-11 to put off the issue until its next meeting on December 3.

A major taxi medallion owners' group has come out in favor of the bill to lower speed limits to 20 miles per hour on residential streets citywide.

City Council reps and members of the public spoke unanimously today in support of a bill to lower speed limits to a life-saving 20 miles per hour in neighborhoods citywide. But if the council adopts the measure, it will do so over the objection of DOT, which said the proposal would create conflicts with state law.