Eyes on the Street

A tipster sent us photos of what looks like a sinkhole in the Hudson River Greenway just north of 181st Street, in Washington Heights. These shots were taken Sunday morning.

Turn up the volume and listen for the sociopathic pacesetter about halfway through this clip. This is southbound Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights, recorded with my bike-mounted camera at the intersection with Dean Street at about 9:40 p.m. last night.

Drivers going to and from the Henry Hudson Parkway at 158th Street pass a traffic signal at a crosswalk that cyclists and pedestrians use to access the Hudson River Greenway. The light flashes yellow until a crosswalk user requests a signal, at which point it turns red and drivers must stop at the crosswalk.

Clarence came across the scene of a three-vehicle crash in Jackson Heights earlier this afternoon, at 35th Avenue and 81st Street, a.k.a. the "Scrabble" corner.

Yesterday we reported that State Senator Bill Perkins' office has finally expressed satisfaction with the 125th Street bus improvement project, now that DOT has watered it down by shortening the dedicated bus lanes. Previously,  Perkins had called on the city to "slow down" the plan to bring Select Bus Service to 125th Street due to what he claimed was insufficient community input, even though DOT and the MTA had been holding public workshops since last September. Streetsblog hit the streets yesterday afternoon to see what bus riders on 125th Street had to say about the situation.

Today, New Yorkers turned out under sunny skies to try out bike-share for the first time. Citi Bike went live at 11:00 a.m., but a few New Yorkers discovered that their keys were working at some stations before the official start time this morning. By noon, it was easy to spot people pedaling bright blue bikes without being on the lookout for them.

A cyclist was struck and injured by a cab driver at 81st and Broadway this afternoon.

Citi Bike's rollout to Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and eastern Bedford-Stuyvesant was delayed by damage from Hurricane Sandy. But it looks like bike-share will be establishing a toehold in Williamsburg, with new stations installed in time for the system's launch, now just one week away.

It's that time of year: DOT is breaking out electronic signage at dangerous locations throughout the city, warning drivers to slow down and obey the speed limit. Speeding was the top cause of traffic deaths in New York City last year.