Always a Rough Road for Pedestrians

Park Slope Courier | December 19, 2005

By Michele De Meglio

Drivers — stop complaing! Pedestrians have their own bumpy streets to deal with.Acording to a report released by Transportation Alternatives, Brooklynites pushing strollers on local streets must contend with uneven sidewalks and missing curb ramps. While most respondents to the advocacy group's survey said they are satisfied with the conditions of their local streets, more than 85 percent of the 1,029 participants said they are forced to avoid sidewalks that are difficult or dangerous to maneuver with a stroller.Nearly 20 percent of pedestrians said it is difficult to navigate their neighborhood streets while pushing a stroller.In Brooklyn, the top complaints were cracked and deteriorating sidewalks.Survery participants were happy to point out the worst areas for pedestrians in Brooklyn.Walkers regularly encounter trouble when attempting to cross the street at the corner of Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue, as well as at Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue.One location that was frequently cited was the pedestrian crossway at Grand Army Plaza. According to an avid walker in Prospect Heights, "The roads around Grand Army Plaza in Brookyn demonstrate the problems that exists for all types of pedestrians, including those with strollers. These streets are designed to move massive amounts of cars through them. Pedestrians of all kinds cross the street with great difficulty. Often, the traffic lights leave one stranded between roaring lanes of cars. The city should expand the sidewalks, shrink the lanes of traffic, and, in general, redesign Grand Army Plaza for pedestrians first and cars second. Right now, crossing with a baby in a stroller is terrifying."Throughout the city, parents who completed the Transportation Alternatives survey ranked drivers making aggressive turns without acknowledging pedestrians waiting at the crosswalk as the number one problem when trying to cross a street with a stroller."Crossing Eastern Parkway and Flatbush [is] extremely dangerous due to not enough time, no safe place to stand, and recklessly disobedient drivers," said a Prospect Heights walker."We need more traffic calming features, [such as] speed bumps, cameras on traffic lights. Also, there have been many recent incidents of cars running into pedestrians on the sidewalks. We need some kind of barrier to prevent cars from hitting pedestrians on the sidewalks, especially on corners where people wait to cross the street," asserted a parent in Windsor Terrace.If the problem streets in Brooklyn were easier to travel on, more than 60 percent of participants in the survey said they would walk longer distances while pushing a child in a stroller.The goal of Transportation Alternatives' "Stroller Report Card" is to highlight the organization's campaign to improve pedestrian safety.The group is advocating for the city to repair faulty sidewalks and take steps to calm highly-trafficked zones, which will make crossing streets easier — and less terrifying — for pedestrians.Survey participants had their own recommendations for how walking conditions could be improved.In addition to suggesting that the city widen sidewalks, they asked drivers to be more considerate when they see pedestrians waiting on a corner or crossing a street.Tresa Horney, pedestrian campaign director for Transportation Alternatives, said that the organization's report "shows how simple things can be made so hard by poorly maintained sidewalks and streets. Mobility is a huge issue facing not only parents, but the elderly and handicapped as well. How can the greatest city in the world overlook some of its most precious inhabitants?"For more information about Transportation Alternatives' pedestrian advocacy campaign, log onto www.transalt.org.

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