By Timothy Sandoval
Community Board 7 voted on Monday night to modify curbs and crosswalks at 72nd street and Riverside Drive to make the intersection safer, but acceded to demands of block residents that one of the curb extensions be eliminated.
The proposed extensions add painted areas that are blocked off by plastic bollards to the Northern corners of West 72nd Street and Riverside Drive. The proposal also adds a crosswalk connecting the two sides of West 72nd Street on the East side of the street. The Department of Transportation recommended the changes as safety measures that would slow down traffic and reduce the size of the crosswalks. WE first wrote about it here. The image below shows the street configuration from the DOT’s original proposal.
But residents who live on the South side of the street said the changes were ugly and not necessary. Dan Zweig, co-chair of the community board’s Transportation Committee, said an extension on the southern strip would cause problems rather than be a helpful solution.
“It’s simply not needed to shorten the crosswalk an extra two feet or so,” Zweig said.
Other board members spoke mostly in agreement with Zweig’s comments on the issue and some owners of buildings that would be in front of the proposed extension on the south side voiced concerns about the proposal.
Dan Wagner, project manager for the West 72nd Street project for DOT, said the south side extension was one element of techniques that DOT has used to enhance street safety.
“The bump-out itself is part of out toolkit and we want to apply the toolkit to as many places as possible,” Wagner said.
The changes to the intersection could start as soon as August.
Image via DOT.
Glad they scaled it back, but really, there has to be something more visually pleasing they could do than white plastic poles. Use a little imagination, people.
Anybody know about the plans for 79th St. and Riverside?? I live right between the two and I’d say that 79th St is MUCH more of an issue. There is SO much more traffic, both pedestrian and autos at 79th St. 72nd St is serene and empty in comparison.
Improvements to 79th Street and Riverside were already approved by CB7 in May.
Absolutely, 79th is a nightmare. There used to be an exit from the West Side Highway at 72nd, but Trump got that closed, and that made 79th worse. But no one seems to care.
The 79th Street proposal is covered in this West Side Rag piece from March (url=https://www.westsiderag.com/2014/03/12/city-proposes-major-changes-at-72nd-and-79th-streets), but it hasn’t yet made onto the formal CB7 agenda, likely precisely because the situation is more complicated and there is therefore more for the Transportation Committee and Board to consider (and more views for them to take into account).