Road Diet To Calm 19 Blocks of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd Starting Next Week

In today’s headline stack, we noted that, according to the Daily News, the Department of Transportation is getting started on installing badly needed safety improvements along Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. The road diet is long overdue on the avenue, where nighttime speeds average 50 miles per hour and three pedestrians have been killed so far this year. Though the plan has the support of some of the neighborhood’s most important community organizations, such as the Abyssinian Development Corporation, some community board members and neighborhood activists remain opposed.

The News reported that DOT would be starting construction between 145th Street and 153rd Street next week. That section includes the very most dangerous crossings along the corridor. Of the twelve pedestrians killed on Adam Clayton Powell since 2006, seven were struck between 145th Street and 147th Street.

The Daily News didn’t mention any streets further downtown than 145th, but a DOT spokesperson confirmed that the scaled-back project hadn’t been scaled back any further. The road diet will extend down to 134th Street, as planned. Community Board 10’s qualms about the project had previously caused the southern end of the improvements to be moved up almost a mile, from 118th Street to 134th Street.

According to one DOT source, the remainder of the corridor could receive safety upgrades next year.