Calming Traffic in Chinatown

With all the talk about high level personnel changes at the DOT, let’s take it back to the streets for a minute, shall we? As we have already noted, Chinatown has gotten a buffered bike lane on Grand Street, which is fantastic, and would be even more fantastic if it wasn’t treated as a car parking lane. But that is not the only recent change to the Chinatown streetscape.

I am pleased to see all the traffic calming, or at least traffic channeling, improvements that have been put up in Chinatown. The double yellow lines in the center of the Bowery and Chrystie Street have been given visual reinforcements — bollards that keep cars from swerving into lanes of oncoming traffic and alert drivers to the fact that they are in a heavy pedestrian zone.

Here are some more photos.

In a way, however, all these large bright orange devices sort of mar the streetscape, scalding the retina of the slow pedestrian. But their presence also indicates what traffic is around major bridge approaches: Romper Room.