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 Transportation Alternatives' PositionThe following is a letter sent by T.A. to the NYC Department of Transportation:
February 7, 2000 Dear Borough Commissioner Keegan:Transportation Alternatives strongly recommends that the pilot projects proposed for the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project be significantly broadened to better test the range of traffic calming methods, and to assess how these methods can work together in an area wide traffic calming scheme. As proposed, the pilot projects are extremely modest and will not demonstrate how to best traffic calm the study area. The pilot projects must include a much wider range of traffic calming devices and practices if the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project is to address the severe traffic and related safety, noise and air pollution problems, afflicting downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods. Specifically, we urge that the pilot projects include: 1. Slow speed zones (as low as 15 mph) in combination with calming devices. Note the passage in 1999 by the legislature (with Mayor Giuliani's strong support) of NYC Traffic Calming law. 2. Changes in Street Directions. The most successful area-wide traffic calming schemes in NYC use changes of street directions on non-arterial streets to reduce through traffic and prevent diversion traffic from arterial streets onto side streets. Good examples of this are in Chelsea on Manhattan's lower west side and on the Upper West Side near the Museum of Natural History. 3. Raised crosswalks between neckdowns: The crosswalks should be raised a minimum of four inches above the street. 4. Streets with neckdowns, raised crosswalks and two or more mid-block speed humps. 5. Wider neckdowns: Test the effect of wide and narrow street widths at neckdown locations. Lanes as narrow as 11 feet should be tested to determine their effect on pedestrian safety. 14 feet should be maximum width on one lane street. Lanes on one lane street should be narrow enough to enforce driver discipline and still allow safe clearance for cyclists. 6. Midblock and corner speed humps in conjunction with neckdowns, and independent of them. 7. Reduced curb return / turn radii at corners without neckdowns. 8. Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI) at every intersection in the primary study area. 9. Median extensions into intersections where there is no turning movement: For instance, the intersection State Street and Boerum Place. 10. Traffic island to improve pedestrian safety at the free right turn at Atlantic and Boerum. 11. Narrowing of Tillary west of Brooklyn Bridge from eight lanes to two. We also request that the consultant collate and distribute public comments from the workshops, task force meetings and surveys. This will allow the concerned public to hear the breadth of ideas and concerns being expressed by their neighbors and key stake holders.
These recommendations are intended to ensure that the pilot projects include an adequate range of traffic calming methods. The NYC DOT has cataloged a diverse group of more than 150 traffic calming devices -- not including speed humps -- already in place in New York City. Yet, the bulk of the pilot projects are devoted to testing variations of only one device, the neckdown. Neckdowns have been used for many years in NYC, and their characteristics are well known. The purpose of neckdowns is to reduce crashes in which vehicles turn into pedestrians. However, the neckdown designs being proposed leave very wide streets -- ranging in width from 16.5' to 17' for single lanes and 24' for two lanes -- and thus will probably not reduce vehicle speeds. The pilot process does not test combinations of devices. This is a serious flaw, given that the project lends itself to an area wide approach in which different devices complement each other. Additionally, the pilot projects do not include streets engineered and signed for slow speeds. Without significant additions to the DOT's proposed pilot projects, the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project will become like the failed 1980's traffic project in Community Board 7, on the Upper West Side. The end result of that project was a number of neckdowns and mid-block narrowings on 92nd, 93rd and 94th Streets between Amsterdam and Central Park West. These neckdowns and narrowings, with brick crosswalks / bands in front of them, have all of the form but none of the function of traffic calming. They do not slow cars, reduce traffic flow and produce only minor pedestrian safety benefits. The Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project is the largest traffic calming planning process underway in the United States. It is an opportunity to try new things and bring NYC to the fore of traffic calming practice in this country. It is the product of more than a decade of neighborhood complaints. We urge you to be bold and to take full advantage of the strong community support for traffic calming. Thank you for your attention to our concerns. We look forward to your response.
John Kaehny Executive Director CC: Howard Golden, Brooklyn Borough
President
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