Photo by Thomas DeVito of Transportation Alternatives.
The city wants to reconfigure parts of Lincoln Square to make it safer for pedestrians, potentially redesigning streets, sidewalks and curbs in the area from Columbus Circle to the high-60’s.
Department of Transportation reps will present details at a meeting on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the community board office at 250 West 87th street (just West of Broadway). So far, the community board has released a very brief description saying “The project includes: additional sidewalk space, shorter crosswalks, safer street design, and bicycle lanes.”
Members of street-safety group Transportation Alternatives talked to people and took their pictures near the “bowtie” intersection of Broadway and 65th-64th street this weekend, taking photos like the one above.
This project has been in the works for awhile, but takes on added urgency in the wake of a hit-and-run crash last week on 65th and Broadway that left one Upper West Side mother with severe injuries.
The DOT will also have to figure out how to weave bike lanes through an area that involves several complicated street intersections. Without some solution allowing bicyclists safe passage, they’re essentially on their own from the southern border of the Columbus lanes at 66th to the 9th avenue lanes below Columbus Circle, say bicycling advocates.
The city has been changing its street-safety plans based on community support or opposition, so if you care about this issue try to attend the meeting.
If you’d like to leave a comment below, please stay respectful and on the topic. We’ll be deleting anything that veers off-topic.
I am a biker. This intersection is terrifying. I avoid it whenever possible.
Commenting as someone who does not know how to drive…
Respectfully, in my opinion, any DOT plan needs to account for 1) increasingly aggressive pedestrians around the 65-66th Street and Broadway area and 2) the overall increase in people and vehicles over the past 10 year or so with increased development. Another factor in traffic is the increase in use of delivery (Fresh Direct, Amazon etc.)
Pedestrians now routinely jaywalk. They also now stand in the street. (For example, in front of Century 21, pedestrians now stand in the street, even blocking the buses trying to get to the bus stop.)
It was not always like this.
WSR – only peripherally related, but would love to see some sort of follow up to the community’s take on the reconfiguration of West End Ave. As someone who lives, walks, bikes and drives on it, I’m pleased with the improvements. Curious if the naysayers think their worst fears have come to pass.
Thanks for all the work!
I’ve mentioned here before that the West End changes have resulted in trucks double-parking in the only driving lane, forcing drivers to go into oncoming turn lanes and face oncoming traffic. It’s kind of unbelievable.
As a driver, walker and biker I find it hardest to bike in this area. Even in spots that do have bike lanes (Columbus Ave down toward the Lincoln Center area) it is impossible to even use those lanes because of building construction spilling into the lane but mostly the double parked trucks in the lane. Parking enforcement is on top of anyone on the feeder cross streets if you miss feeding the meter by 10 minutes, but leave huge box trucks to idle or park for hours IN THE BIKE LANES. This also causes traffic and pedestrian bottlenecks and people taking chances at crosswalks. Enforcement of any kind of current laws would make a big difference (speed monitoring, taxis jumping/running red lights/going right on reds etc). I welcome any new ideas but without enforcement it will remain the Wild Wild West.
Whatever laws are enacted, they will be effective only if they are OBEYED! AND ENFORECED! That means handing out tickets, which means having police on duty in the area. Good luck with that.
I’m also a biker and find the bowtie intersection of Bdwy & 64th/65th St treacherous when riding southbound. Columbus Circle is only slightly better!
As a pedestrian only, I welcome any improvements!
Heck, maybe one day I’ll even try to get on a bike…but until then, I’m just sick and tired of all the injuries in the neighborhood and the big highway-like roads.
The answer to this problem has nothing to do with increasing sidewalk space and shortening crosswalks. That “solution” will only increase the already horrible auto traffic problems, requiring fewer car lanes and further frustrating drivers who are already hamstrung by the ridiculous light & traffic patterns – and therefore act almost desperately in order to make any sort of progress in movement. There need to be staggered turn lights, appropriate timing of existing lights, traffic cameras, and additional enforcement by police who will actually act rather than watch infractions pass them. I’d say nothing will be done until someone is killed, but that benchmark in our neighborhoods has long since passed.
What’s with the countdown clocks that continue after the light has turned red? How is a driver supposed to know when the light will change when it’s not synchronized with the numbers? And this morning I saw 2 cars going westbound go through a red light at 77th and Amsterdam next to the playground on our way to school…
The way I learned this in driver’s ed was to slow down and stop for a yellow light. That’s the warning that it will change to red soon. I’m honestly asking, are drivers taught differently than to slow and prepare to stop when a light turns yellow here?
Couldn’t agree more.
How about a Times Square like solution with pedestrian plazas and partial street closings for autos?
Where, exactly, do you propose this pedestrian-only zone be placed? West 65th Street is an east/west transverse through the park. Going east, between the west side of Broadway and CPW – a span of 1 block plus an intersection – there are 3 bus stops, the loading dock for BB&B, and the Guild for the Blind with a robust level of school buses lined up on both sides of the street twice daily. Let’s not forget the left and right turns off Columbus (s/b) and Broadway (n/b). Of course pedestrians need to be able to walk without fear for their lives, but cars need access for reasons of commerce, convenience, and common sense, but they must be given the incentive to drive safely and within the law, with strict penalties for any abuse. The greatest problem with traffic over the past years is that all regard for rules of the road has completely disappeared while enforcement is all but non-existent, even for drivers who have displayed they can’t control their cars and are involved in accidents that have killed people.
Or like the lovely “new” redesign around Madison Square/Flat Iron Building.
the entire corridor of Broadway, starting at the nightmare that is Columbus Circle, is a deathtrap for cyclists. Ever since the re-design of Columbus Circle, you cannot safely ride a bike up 8th Avenue to continue up Broadway. ANd since Broadway and 59-60th street is a hub for Citybikes, it’s a huge problem. Dedicated, barrier protected bike lanes and strict enforcement of crossing paths for pedestrians are needed. TIcketing lights for cabs and cars going over 25 mph along with large signs indicating that traffic cameras are in effect should help as well.
Vehicles are big and heavy and loud and fast. By comparison, pedestrians and cyclists are quiet and small and light and slower and taken for granted, and they are vulnerable because of that. Action is necessary to protect pedestrians and cyclists because not all drivers can be counted on to drive safely all the time.
Pedestrian safety measures proposed for the Lincoln Center area are specifically designed to prevent people from those drivers who are not paying attention, who are not driving safely, who are speeding, who are fiddling with the radio, who are texting, who are adjusting the temperature, who may not be driving sober…
Pedestrians are the most vulnerable street users, and therefore need the most protection.
Wendy & Brian; bicycles are vehicles and you just have to
follow the same rules that cars do. When you get the light
look both ways and if you can try and make eye contact with
the driver or the pedestrian ,whoever is sharing your space.
I often think about this same issue as well, but you conveyed it very nicely and clearly. Well done.
Several months ago I participated in a discussion with the DOT that was open to the Lincoln Square community. I was impressed by how eager the DOT was to solicit our views and how much thought and work they were devoting to dealing with these issues. While no solution will satisfy everyone, pedestrian safety was the primary concern of all those present.
By the way – who area all those special people who park in the ‘no parking anytime’ spots…. and … let’s do away with the overly generous limo reserved spots on Riverside Blvd that are usually EMPTY.
Easy – get rid of all bike lanes – get rid of double parked cars – finish road construction projects in as little time as possible. How long has there been work going on on Columbus between 65th and 66th? There has been a middle part of the road out for years until the last few weeks. The roads are for cars and trucks. Enforce jaywalking so that people don’t “try to make it”. The problem is not the roads, it is the idiot cyclists and jaywalkers.
I certainly don’t believe the answer to any of this is to limit auto traffic any more than it already is. That said, the answer isn’t as simple as pointing a finger at any one of the triad in the equation: Cars, Pedestrians and Bicyclists. This is a robust commercial and residential area. Cars need to be given access, but need to do so lawfully. Recently, too many drivers have apparently embraced the misguided beliefs that red lights are a mere suggestion, right turns are permitted on red, stop lines are invisible, entering crosswalks at red lights is acceptable, and terrorizing pedestrians when they have the right of way is a sport. Pedestrians in New York have always banked on the lag between when the crossing light turns red and the driving light turns green, but now there’s almost a defiance in those walking, as though they’re daring drivers to move. And bicyclists – especially delivery drivers – have begun driving as though the law doesn’t pertain to them. ALL that has to be addressed, and enforcement by all means would be the most potent deterrent. Most importantly, a good dose of common sense would go a long way toward alleviating some of this problem.
i couldn’t agree with Mike more. the changes on Broadway and 96 and WEA have been an improvement for pedestrians but have made traffic worse. broadway southbound above 96th street is a long traffic jam every morning with no attempt to manage it. the same for West End. the addition of the bike lane on Columbus has done the same all the way down from 96th street. better traffic enforcement combined with some of these well-intentioned changes from the DOT would be the better solution.
The new plan is to have one lane of traffic on every street and avenue in the world. It still won’t make it safer. Last week I saw a NYC Dept of Sanitation (i.e.: garbage truck) driving in the zebra stripes for over a block on the newly re-designed West End Ave to go around a line of cars. Or are all governmental vehicles exempt from traffic rules?
Yes please make it safer for all. Also have law enforcement give out tickets to those who wish to park anywhere they desire. I’m so sick of seeing motorists blocking bike lanes. That space was fought so hard for bikes and yet they disregard that space and block it. If they must block a lane then block one of the car lanes. Cars have more than one lane, block 1 of their lanes?!