The city tore up parts of the sidewalk on the North side of 72nd street where it enters Riverside Park this week to extend the curb, as part of its project to make the intersection safer.
The curb was already extended last year, but the changes were only marked with paint; the construction will make it more permanent. The larger curb will shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians.
This corner is also set to get a CitiBike station this fall, even though some residents had complained the CitiBikes seemed out of place next to the statue of Eleanor Roosevelt at this corner.
Read about the changes to this intersection and the one at 79th street and Riverside here.
Thanks to Ben for the photo.
I noticed while riding the M5 bus the other day. It’ll be nice to have the stopgap solution of painted lines built in a more-permanent way. Hopefully this will keep those taxis from parking in the pedestrian area. They don’t even just double-park but essentially park on the sidewalk.
It is curious why this instance of line-painted pedestrians areas is being reconstructed now, while others all around the city have been left as-is for years.