Urban Design

Walking to school is a healthy way for many kids to get their daily dose of exercise. Unfortunately many parents are rightfully concerned about their children's safety on the city's streets because of aggressive driver and lack of good pedestrian safety infrastructure. Everyday in front of many city schools you see parents dropping kids off in front of schools even though most live well within walking distance.

DOT just finished striping new bike lanes and stencils along Grand Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side:

Cutting-edge European traffic calming techniques seem to be having a bit of an American zeitgeist moment. Two pieces of evidence:

 Before being transformed into a public plaza, Willoughby Street was filled with illegally parked cars.

A physically-separated bike lane on a shopping street in Copenhangen, Denmark

Last week Alec posted a vision for transit-oriented development that was met by the Streetsblog commenters with less than universal enthusiasm. While we are on the subject, I submit a vision being acted upon that I find close to ideal. Here we see Jersey City, specifically the two blocks of Newark Avenue between Erie Street and Christopher Columbus Drive. The large building under construction in the background sits atop the Grove Street PATH station, a spot of land that represented an excellent opportunity for high density growth because it was formerly a collection of parking lots with a half dozen low-rise buildings including what looks like it was an automobile service garage. 

Here is a contribution from Sean Roche, a Streetsblog reader in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb just west of Boston.

As on Brookyn's Fifth Avenue this weekend, it looks like DOT has finished installing the new Class III bike route stencils on Clinton and Delancey Streets. If you ride this route, let Streetsblog know what you think of these.