The basic design scheme for pedestrian islands being considered for West End Avenue. The design may vary somewhat at different intersections.
By Tessa Abrahams
The plan to redesign West End Avenue could include new pedestrian islands at 72nd and 79th streets after a Community Board 7 committee voted on Tuesday to add islands at those two streets, in addition to the islands originally planned for 95th and 97th. The city is also considering pedestrian islands at 86th street, according to a spokesperson for council member Helen Rosenthal, but that’s a discussion for later in the year.
Pedestrian islands would be placed in the middle of the street to shorten the walk for pedestrians and force automobiles to make wider turns.
The somewhat contentious meeting ended with the committee vote, which will be reviewed by the full community board.
There was some strong disagreement regarding adding the islands at 72nd street. DNAinfo reports that the island might actually be placed on the West side of the street, as opposed to the North or south intersections, like the other islands. A man in the audience brought up a traffic study that said 72nd demands two southbound lanes and an island is not feasible. Immediately after this comment that there seemed to be an overall consensus that this plan is still in early stages and should not be rushed. Audience members were saying things like how they were confident coming into the meeting but now it’s clear that a decision is not ready to be made and they are very skeptical.
Read our original article with the proposed plan here. Neighborhood in the Nineties has also proposed their own plan, which can be seen here.
As usual our loco l politicians come up with another rush job for our hood. Laws passed without thinking of unintended consequesenses. Islands proposed without due diligence.and more kicking the can down the road.
Can we get competent leaders who will invest the time to do things right instead of having the same old faces shoving crap down our throats?
Ummm…will these “pedestrian islands” have sand, palm trees, Caribbean music, and drinks with tiny umbrellas?
Probably not. After all, they are “pedestrian”
Oops! That probably falls flat. According to Wiktionary.org, “Young people in particular are unlikely to use pedestrian in the ordinary or dull sense.”
sighhh…more culture lost!
🙂
Another NYC government move without much thought. These islands will have planters, which will serve no other cause but to provide a blind spot for both drivers and peds. With islands in place, expect more jaywalking and more casualties resulting from neighbors playing the classic arcade game of Frogger!
No other cause? Gracious no!
You’re forgetting one of the main functions of the islands down the center of Broadway — to house hoards of rats and who-knows-what-else.
And now we’ll have sanctuary for the critters right where we live. Brilliant!
Couldn’t the City just tell the police to enforce the existing laws instead?
Why not 86th st and 96th st? I was almost run down at 86 st/WEA.
Jean Chambers was a friend of mine, I keep thinking of her
Huh. I was prepared to hate the Neighborhood in the Nineties suggestions, but they actually make a lot of sense. It’s not so much a competing plan, but a very targeted addition to the DOT plan.
With one moving lane on a residential street, stop and go by the cabs will present a significant problem. Or maybe there won’t be cabs on the West End. What am I missing? Clearly there were issues in mid 90s due to turns/traffic from highway, but West End between 85 & 60 operates rather well…
Exactly! We can’t have that now, can we??
This post seems very different than my recollection of the meeting.
Almost everybody in the audience supported the plan, or wanted more to be done.
DNA’s story captured the spirit much better with this quote: “This is not a perfect plan [but] this is a vast improvement on what exists on West End Avenue currently… it will save lives,” said resident John Simpson. “The time for action is now.”
Hi Steve,
I apologize if I was not clear in what I hoped to express in stating that the audience seemed skeptical: I 100% agree with you that the audience is very much in favor of the plan and that they feel that the issues the plan intends to solve (safety, traffic flow, etc.) are of high importance and urgency.
However, in regards to the details of how to best solve each issue addressed within the plan, the audience appeared to feel skeptical in making any decisions too quickly. Many people in the audience expressed concerns that the plan, as it currently stands, is at a premature stage in its development. Although a plan of action is necessary, the various issues it aims to solve each demand further research and time spent considering all available options.
Steve, every post on here is followed by people complaining about whatever it is. That’s just what they do, all the time.
I guess we should wait for more kids and adults to get killed before we make any rash decisions
Wow do you folks do nothing but complain? So much wasted mind chatter, blah blah blah. No wonder most people are miserable. You are what you think.
there’s a certain group of commenters here that loves to b**ch about everything… even when they have the chance to make a contribution. they could have gone to this meeting. Endless complaints about public officials who are trying their best to service the community. it’s not helpful.
all well and good but at the end of the day. showing up for a community meeting trumps anonymous complaining on a web site. if you can’t be bothered to show up, you degrade your two cents.
there is no political club on the UWS that is “secretive.”
I amend my earlier remarks. I guess it is POSSIBLE that there are political clubs on the UWS which are secretive… and then of course i (and presumably others here) would not know about them.
All the major Democratic clubs are very open in their processes. I am including Broadway Dems, Three Parks Dems, Community Free Democrats, and Ansonia Democrats. People should check out the club meetings.
Seriously. And sorry, but commenting on this site isn’t going to make a difference. If you want to use digital means, contact your representative online, use twitter, etc. Commenting on a blog is waaaay down the list.
It’s 2014 – requiring citizens to “go to a meeting” to be heard is crazybones.
Smart electeds and appointeds should be (and are) reading sites like this to better understand what the community needs.
Notwithstanding Gale Brewer’s focus on technology and transparency, the UWS is still stuck a bit in the past, with minimal official digital outreach, secretive political clubs and all that nonsense. Rather than revel in that backwardness, I’m happy to see people congregate and express their opinions on this site and others. In fact, Helen Rosenthal was much more aggressive in promoting online submissions for traffic plan suggestions than encouraging people to come to the meetings – a really nice form of inclusiveness and progress.
It’s quite helpful to know what our neighbors are thinking, and I appreciate the incredible work that Avi does to give us this forum.
I did not attend the meeting, but maybe the proposed “island” is similar to whatever it is in the middle of West End and 66th Street, which I assume is supposed to allow pedestrians somewhere to rest if they can’t make it across the street. In reality, pedestrians continue to cross West End after the light has turned red in their favor. However, that part of West End will continue to have two lanes of traffic in each direction. Also, it seems that the portion of West End by Lincoln Towers is wider than the portion that has the redesign proposal. I have already written to both DOT and Helen Rosenthal’s office that the redesign should be put on hold for a year to see if the 25 mph speed limit has any effect in reducing accidents, and to increase enforcement of no commercial traffic on West End, ticketing bike riders and delivery people who go through red lights and ride on the wrong side of the street, and a public campaign to discourage jaywalking and cellphone use when crossing the street.
The islands also prevent cutting corners — which would have saved Jean’s life.
These improvements are important, and they aren’t being “rushed”. They are long, long, long overdue.
To Steve,
Following your logic, let’s redesign every wide avenue and street in the city. Again, give the 25 mph law a year, and see if it makes a difference. Thanks.
Agree with you Stuart.