Traffic Calming
Streetsblog Basics
Community-Based Plan for Marcus Garvey Park Traffic Calming Gathers Steam
The streets around Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem are wide and fast, creating barriers between people who live in the neighborhood and important public amenities, including the park itself. Local residents have been working with DOT to calm traffic, coming up with a proposal that extends sidewalk space, shortens crossing distances for pedestrians, and squares off street corners that drivers currently careen around at high speeds.
January 14, 2013
CB 2 Committee OKs Varick Street Traffic Calming, Punts on Bike Corrals
With two unanimous 9-0 votes, Manhattan Community Board 2's transportation committee took one step forward and one step back for livable streets last night, voting for safety fixes at a problematic intersection while punting on a proposal for bike corrals after local NIMBY extraordinaire Sean Sweeney showed up to squash it.
January 4, 2013
Is Another Stop Light the Best Fix for Livable Streets?
Last week, the New York Times profiled David Bookstaver, who after six years succeeded in getting DOT to install a stop light at East 85th Street and East End Avenue. Whether Mr. Bookstaver's victory will result in a safer crossing remains to be seen, and stop lights, though popular with the public, are not the only tool the city can use to slow traffic.
September 18, 2012
NYC Will Expand 20 MPH Zones to 13 Neighborhoods, With More to Come
Following the launch of the city's first 20 mph zone in the Claremont section of the Bronx last year, NYC DOT has selected 13 more areas to receive the "slow zone" treatment (see the full list), Mayor Michael Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced this afternoon. DOT was inundated with applications for slow zones after the agency announced the program in November, and Sadik-Khan said more neighborhoods would be able to opt in next year.
July 10, 2012
Bloomberg and Sadik-Khan Announce New 20 MPH Slow Zones
Mayor Bloomberg and NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced an expansion of the city's Slow Zone program, which lowers speed limits in selected areas from 30 to 20 mph and implements low-cost traffic-calming measures like speed humps.
July 10, 2012
Deadly Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park Poised to Get Life-Saving Road Diet
It's hard to imagine a street in more dire need of a safety upgrade than Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Lined with schools, senior centers, subway stations, churches and stores -- and situated in one of the city's top walk-to-work neighborhoods -- the street is a magnet for pedestrians of all ages. It's also a speedway for motorists. Now it looks like this part of Fourth Avenue will get a safety-minded makeover as soon as this fall.
May 3, 2012
Death of Staten Island Student R.J. Tillman Stokes Call for Safer Howard Ave
Staten Island's Howard Avenue was once known as Serpentine Road. Though the moniker was mostly due to the serpentinite in the hill's bedrock, the road also winds and writhes up Grymes Hill, the second highest point on Staten Island. The neighborhood is home to two college campuses, Wagner and St. John's, the secondary schools Notre Dame Academy and P.S. 35, century-old homes and breathtaking views stretching beyond the north shore to encompass Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bayonne.
April 2, 2012
Adriano Espaillat Was for Cut-Through Traffic Before He Was Against It
I nearly spit out my coffee when I saw that Adriano Espaillat had signed on in support of the Inwood slow zone application.
March 6, 2012
Support For Neighborhood Slow Zones Keeps on Growing
Interest continues to grow in the Department of Transportation's slow speed zones, which place 20 mph speed limits on residential streets. One month after the application deadline for the program, community boards across the city continue to pass resolutions in support of slow zones.
March 2, 2012
Classon Avenue Road Diet Wins Support From Fourth Community Board
A plan to put Classon Avenue on a safety-enhancing road diet won unanimous approval from Brooklyn's Community Board 8 last night. CB 8 was the fourth and final community board to vote on the proposal, according to the board. Each CB supported the plan.
February 10, 2012