Traffic Calming
Streetsblog Basics
Eyes on the Street: West End Avenue Gets Its Road Diet
After Cooper Stock and Jean Chambers were killed in West End Avenue crosswalks by turning drivers earlier this year, DOT unveiled a 35-block road diet for the dangerous Upper West Side street. Now, the plan is on the ground, and pedestrian islands are set to be installed within a month.
October 16, 2014
DCP Sketches Out Waterfront Transit and Safer Streets for Western Queens
A new transitway from LaGuardia Airport to Downtown Brooklyn is the most ambitious recommendation in a draft report [PDF] from the Department of City Planning on transportation in Western Queens, which also includes a raft of smaller changes that would make the streets of Astoria and Long Island City safer and more livable.
October 10, 2014
Rumor Mill: Safety Overhaul in the Works for the “Boulevard of Death”
Word on the street is that Queens Boulevard could be the first major arterial redesign initiated by Polly Trottenberg's DOT.
October 6, 2014
To Make Atlantic Ave Safer, Advocates Want to Hear All About Its Problems
Efforts to improve safety along Atlantic Avenue are moving ahead as advocates gain support and the Department of City Planning continues its study of the dangerous arterial street.
October 1, 2014
Will Montgomery County Botch the Streets in a Model Suburban Retrofit?
Four years ago, White Flint, a neighborhood of North Bethesda, Maryland, most known for its shopping mall, caught the attention of urbanists around the nation with a proposal to reimagine car-oriented suburban streets as a walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhood. Montgomery County adopted a plan for the town that would narrow its wide arterial roadways and make them safe and accommodating for transit riders, bicyclists, and pedestrians. It was hailed as a model for other suburbs around the nation looking to become less sprawling and more walkable.
October 1, 2014
Bowing to Brooklyn CB 3, DOT Puts Bed Stuy Slow Zone on Ice
Bedford Stuyvesant won't be getting 20 mph streets after all. Despite months of talks after Brooklyn Community Board 3 rejected a request from neighborhood residents for a 20 mph Slow Zone in February, DOT has decided to pull the plug on a traffic calming plan covering 23 blocks of Bed Stuy, effectively giving the community board veto power over this street safety project.
September 11, 2014
Tonight: Important Complete Streets Meetings in Manhattan and Queens
Tonight's a big night for livable streets events, with community board meetings on proposals for Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, and Long Island City. Plus, join Streetsblog at ARTCRANK if you're looking for some fun.
September 4, 2014
Sometimes #Sneckdown Dreams Come True!
Ah yes, that's the now-famous "Snowy Neckdown Redux: Winter Traffic Calming" Streetfilm above. As you may recall, I shot the video in my Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights a few years ago to demonstrate how we could extend our curbs further into the streets to slow drivers and shorten pedestrian crossing distances. Then the idea completely blew up this winter with the #sneckdown hashtag causing a media sensation.
September 4, 2014
Removing Center Lines Reduced Speeding on London Streets
On some streets, getting drivers to stop speeding might be as easy as eliminating a few stripes. That's the finding from a new study from Transport for London [PDF].
August 15, 2014
DOT Proposes Road Diet But Only 4 Ped Islands for 35 Blocks of West End Ave
After two people were killed by motorists along one stretch of West End Avenue this year, DOT promised to calm traffic on this dangerous Upper West Side street. Before a packed house of about 200 residents last night, the agency said changes will be made in two phases, finishing by next spring. The plan: A standard road diet, taking the avenue from two lanes in each direction to one, while adding a center turn lane and widening parking lanes [PDF]. The project is an improvement over the status quo, but many residents last night wanted more.
August 1, 2014