The intersection at West 79th street and Riverside Drive, looking Southwest from the North.
The intersections at Riverside Drive and West 72nd street and West 79th street are notorious trouble spots. The city’s Department of Transportation is planning to make major changes so that they will be easier to navigate for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The plan, which we’ve included below, was unveiled and endorsed at a Community Board transportation committee meeting on Tuesday night. It will probably go before the full Community Board next month and could be implemented as soon as this summer.
On 72nd street, where pedestrians have to cross very long crosswalks to get to Riverside Park, the curbs would be extended. The 87-foot walk from the South to North side into Riverside Park would be reduced to 51 feet, for instance. In addition, the DOT could add alternate side parking spots between Riverside and West End, which are now No Standing zones. On Fridays, taxi drivers tend to double-park in the spaces when they attend services at the Islamic Cultural Center nearby.
On 79th street, where pedestrians and vehicles have to contend with off ramps to the Henry Hudson parkway, new signals, crosswalks and curbs will be installed and bike paths would be extended. The exit ramp for the Northbound Henry Hudson parkway would get a signal instead of stop sign — cars often get backed up there and try to force their way into the street even though they don’t have the right of way. Bicyclists, who now have to carry their bikes down the stairs at the Boat Basin restaurant, will also get to ride down a ramp if the plan goes through.
The length of traffic signals would also be changed.
See the full plan below or click on the pdf here. At first blush, it looks pretty solid.
Images via DOT.
Hallelujah! Long overdue.
How about 95th/96th? They’re a nightmare for both cars and pedestrians – people coming in every direction and no lights to say who has the right of way. Some attention there would be great too.
Thank goodness. Live here 46 years and have seen it get worse and worse.
Glad to see that the city is beginning to re-engineer the streets to make them safe for all users. (Certainly better than blaming pedestrians.)
Get rid of the MTA buses often taking up two lanes on the north and south side of 79th street. Cars end up competing with the buses resulting in driver frustration with the losers being pedestrians. Let the MTA have their coffee breaks and sleeps somewhere else.
These may be trouble spots (and 95th St too as Erica mentioned), but I find 72nd & Broadway to be worse than those. I hope that intersection also gets reviewed. Very difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to cross, particularly coming from Amsterdam or Broadway and trying to continue north on Amsterdam. Either the crossing times need to be made longer, or the crossing distance shorter.
Can someone who has been in the neighborhood tell me what happened to the off ramp from the South side of the West Side Highway at 72nd street? Near the Trump buildings? Is it my imagination or was there one there once? And I guess it’s closed for good?
Yes, there was an exit at 72nd Street which was “temporarily” closed for the Trump buildings construction. I guess life is just too good on Riverside Avenue–or whatever it is called–so the rest of us will just have to make the best of the traffic nightmare created on 79th Street.
I applaud the DOT for making these overdue changes, but some city agency also has to come out with a campaign to make pedestrians realize the risks involved in crossing an intersection against the light! As a pedestrian AND cautious driver, usually with 2 small kids in the back seat, I’ve seen people play chicken with cars, almost daring them to pass through an intersection, even though the light is still green but the crosswalk is orange. I was recently turning left onto Amsterdam from 79th Street while the light was still green. The crosswalk indicator had already started flashing orange when a mother pushing a stroller with a toddler on a buddy-board dashed out to cross and could have easily ended up in my blind spot. There has to be a PSA campaign warning pedestrians against crossing once the crosswalk turns orange, simple as that.
There’s a big fat elephant in the living room that this wonderful PowerPoint fails to ID. Donald Trump made a deal to have the 72nd St exit ramps–both north- and south-bound–removed for his precious development. Now the 79th St Ramp is insanely backed up. This past Sunday afternoon, I counted 38 cars dangerously waiting in line on HH Pky South to exit. Can we address this instead? The Greenway has rightfully been well served at this point. Let’s ease motorists’ hell and make that area safe for living and doing business again. Thanks, Donald.
The closing of the 72nd street ramp is what caused the major overflow of traffic at 79th Street. You will not be able to solve these issues until you re build that ramp