With Cobble Hill Association advocacy, support from local Councilman Brad Lander, and NYC Department of transportation.... the
safety improvements continue along Hicks Street. The rush hour highway that dangerously cut through our neighborhood has been tamed by returning alternate side of the street parking regulations to Hicks Street Northbound, and now each crossing has been vastly enhanced with painted neckdowns as pictured below. Is it just paint on the ground? Yes. But does it help pedestrians? Absolutely. And when funds are available, it can be expanded because these are essentially perfect blueprints for concrete build-outs in the future. Residents and Hicks Street visitors should all be pleased with these additions to our neighborhood.
But the real risk to safety is crossing west to east. These painted bulb outs just put pedestrians closer to the moving lanes.
ReplyDeleteDuly noted. We, the CHA, agree and are also working with DOT to look at ways to improve fencing so there is better visibility through it so no one steps off the curb blindly. Stay tuned for details as they become available...
ReplyDeleteIs there really no money to pour concrete?
ReplyDelete@Peter, actually yes. You're 100% right. Pouring concrete adds significant cost and automatically makes something a 'Capital' project that takes larger chunks of change from long scheduled, funding sources. These neckdowns were designed, engineered, installed in mere months at a fraction of the cost. While we hope to keep pressing DOT and electeds to make funding full concrete pours here down the road, we did not want to wait to get these smaller but still significant safety enhancements in the ground.
ReplyDelete@ anonymous 3:15 These are welcome additions and are better than waiting for funding for a capital project. All of these intersections are dangerous, east to west and north to south. The idea is not that one should wait in the painted area, but that the painted area is not for cars and therefore they shouldnt pass on the right. They also clear sight lines for both pedestrians and vehicles.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know why the "Yield to Pedestrians" sign that was last year installed at the crosswalk at the SW corner of Hicks and Congress has been removed? Right in front of the newish condo. Cars were slowing down and even stopping for peds but the sign has dissapeared in the past few months and the cars once again think they have the ROW. What's needed is a light but the sign helped abit. Thx.
ReplyDelete@Karya Good question. I checked with DOT. They said overall those signs were not necessarily working as intended and so they are removing "Yield to Pedestrians" signs throughout the city as part of an effort to reduce sign clutter. This particular sign type was targeted for removal as drivers are required to yield to pedestrians at all turns throughout the city.
ReplyDelete