COMMUNITY BOARD BACKS CITY PLAN TO CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF TRAFFIC ON 3 STREETS

By Joy Bergmann

This-a-way should go that-a-way on West 60^th, 62^nd and 64^th Streets later this year, according to a safety improvement proposal presented Tuesday evening to the CB7 Transportation Committee by Ed Pincar, Department of Transportation Deputy Borough Commissioner.

A slide from the city presentation. The full slideshow is at the bottom of this post.

CB7 had asked DOT to tinker with directional traffic flow in the lower 60s to reduce necessary detours by drivers, divert vehicles away from the bowtie intersections near Lincoln Center and enhance overall pedestrian safety in this Vision Zero priority area. There have been several serious crashes in this area, including one this week. At around 5:02pm Wednesday, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle at West 61st Street and Broadway, reports FDNY. The crash victim was taken to Roosevelt Hospital.

The DOT’s chief recommendations:

• Make West 60^th run westbound from Broadway to West End Avenue. This would alleviate the current “head-on” situation at Columbus Avenue where traffic flows eastbound from West End, but westbound from Broadway, a “tricky” scenario for drivers and pedestrians alike, said Pincar. According to DOT data, the intersections of Broadway and 60^th and Columbus and 60^th have twice as many crashes as other nearby intersections.
• Restore West 62^nd to two-way traffic between Amsterdam and Columbus. Recent construction had forced one-way flow on that block.
• Make West 64^th run westbound from Amsterdam to West End Avenue. Currently 60^th, 61^st, 64^th and 65^th all run eastbound, forcing drivers to go all the way to 66^th if they want to head west.
• Given the huge volumes of pedestrians near Time Warner Center at 60^th and Broadway, the DOT also recommends installing two painted neck downs [curb extensions] as a first step to calm traffic and shorten pedestrian spans with an eye toward later installing concrete neck downs. Further, 60^th Street needs clear lane demarcations clearly showing parking, turning and through lanes.

“Will this alleviate the constant backlog of black cars idling, double-parked near the Mandarin Oriental Hotel?” asked CB7 member Mark Diller.

“The parking regulations remain unchanged. The markings will serve as a better reminder of the rules already in place,” said Pincar. “We hope that our friends at the police department will help resolve the double-parking out there.”

DOT official Ed Pincar (standing) gives a presentation to Community board members. Photo by Joy Bergmann.

“Good luck with that,” said a meeting attendee.

“It hasn’t happened yet,” said another.

Later in the discussion, a man who said he was director of security for Time Warner Center said to 20^th Precinct Sergeant Felicia Montgomery, also in attendance, “I would welcome some traffic enforcement on 60^th Street.”

Sgt. Montgomery hinted that NYPD jurisdictional issues could be complicating matters. “We have the north side of 60^th Street. The south side of 60^th Street is Midtown North (Precinct),” she said.

Two visually impaired residents representing PASS – Pedestrians for Accessible and Safe Streets – implored the DOT to keep accessibility in mind in all its work. Maria Hansen noted the downside of “Barnes Dance” signaling now in place at 60^th and Broadway. A Barnes Dance stops all traffic in all directions, allowing all pedestrians to cross at once, which seems ideal. However, “blind people listen for directional traffic to know which way to cross. We need to hear traffic or have an audible pedestrian signal installed,” she said.

Several residents from The Hudson Condominiums on West 60^th expressed concern about switching 60^th to westbound, especially given the downhill grade between Amsterdam and West End. “Going down that is like a ramp,” said one. Another urged DOT to install speed bumps mid-block near the Gertrude Ederle Recreation Center.

Resident Pat Ryan voiced her concerns about having Amsterdam traffic being able to turn westward onto 64^th, given the number of schools and Pre-K programs near that intersection. “We would like the street to be left alone,” she said, or at least install traffic calming measures as part of the switch-up.

Committee co-chair Andrew Albert noted the success of traffic calming measures on 77^th and 94^th Streets and urged DOT to use those projects as a model going forward. “I see a lot of beneficial changes here (with the plan),” he said. “We should try this and see how it’s working.”

After some debate, the Transportation Committee unanimously voted its support for the plan. The proposal will next be considered for approval by the full CB7 board.

The entire meeting may be viewed on YouTube here.

Lincoln Square Safety Improvements Jun2016