Greenpoint

Ask a Greenpoint resident to name the neighborhood's most dangerous street, and they'll likely point to McGuinness Boulevard, an infamous speedway that splits the neighborhood in half. Today, it became the city's third "arterial slow zone" to receive a 25 mph speed limit, retimed traffic signals to discourage speeding, and focused enforcement.

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]:

By this time next year, people walking and biking across the Pulaski Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens won't have to share a single narrow path. With a new, two-way protected bike lane spanning the bridge, cyclists will have a safe route and pedestrians will have the existing 8.5-foot wide pathway exclusively for walking. No more fighting over scraps of street space.

DOT is drawing up plans for a dedicated bike lane on the Pulaski Bridge, according to the office of Assembly Member Joe Lentol, and should have a final design ready before the end of the year

A protected bike lane on the Pulaski Bridge -- calming traffic heading to McGuinness Boulevard and providing much more breathing room than the bridge's narrow bike/ped path alone -- has cleared a significant planning hurdle. In a letter to Assembly Member Joe Lentol [PDF], DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said that the proposal meets traffic analysis requirements, and that an engineering study and recommendations will be made by the end of the year:

Here's a welcome sign on the front door to Greenpoint Finest Deli, at the corner of Manhattan and Norman Avenues. The notice, ostensibly from NYPD, reminds drivers and passengers of their obligation to look before opening the door of parked cars. "Summonses will be issued," the sign warns.

Quick update on the campaign for a protected two-way bikeway on the Pulaski Bridge: We don't know if DOT is going to implement one yet, but we know when they'll make a decision. Yesterday, Assembly Member Joe Lentol sent out word that DOT chief Janette Sadik-Khan told him the agency will wrap up its feasibility study of the bikeway by March:

Last night, Brooklyn Community Board 1's transportation committee voted 3-0 in favor of a preliminary design for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway's first capital project on West Street in Greenpoint, and, in a separate 3-0 vote, endorsed pedestrian safety improvements for Borinquen Place in Williamsburg. These projects will bring major improvements for biking and walking on these two North Brooklyn streets.