| 
Walk 21/APBP Professional Development Seminar Presentation
On Wednesday, October 7 2009, staff from DOT's Bicycle Program and Pedestrian Projects Group led a three hour session as part of the Walk 21 Conference / APBP Professional Development Seminar. The presentation made by DOT can be found here.
DOT's Pedestrian Projects Group seeks to transform NYC streets to improve pedestrian safety, increase accessibility and enhance the environment. This multidisciplinary team of planners, engineers and urban designers collaborates with other DOT units to generate improvements that vary from the creation of new plazas out of underused roadways, to longer-term capital projects that can take between 10 months to 10 years to complete depending on the complexity of the project. A detailed and comprehensive design approach results in rational and efficient operations for all street users. Typical project outcomes are shorter, direct crosswalks, new, green usable public space, and safe, comfortable travel paths for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists alike. The Pedestrian Projects group produced a poster explaining their process. You can download a large or small version (pdfs).
|
Increasing Public Space
|
| |
|
2009
|
Allen/Pike Street Improvements
 Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
 In 2009, DOT will improve pedestrian safety on Allen and Pike Streets from E. Houston Street to the water's edge at South Street; while creating a pilot expansion and enhancement of the malls. In addition to widened malls, the plan includes new separated left turn lanes, new crossings between the malls, protected bicycle lanes located adjacent the current malls and new public spaces where the center malls will connect through six intersections. |
| |
|
2008
|
Madison Square
Project Presentation (pdf)
Project Images (pdf) |
|
New plazas surround one of NYC's iconic tourist attractions: the Flatiron Building. Fifth Avenue reverts to its historic role as a major corridor. Broadway narrows and communities to the east and west have been knitted together by people-friendly spaces. |
| |
Broadway Boulevard - Times to Herald Square
Project Presentation (pdf)
Project Images (pdf)
|
|
NYC's prime destinations for entertainment to the north and shopping to the south, are being connected with a ribbon of public gathering spaces and a curbside protected bicycle lane on Broadway between W. 42nd and W. 35th Streets. |
| |
Bronx HUB
Project Presentation (pdf)
Project Images (pdf) |
|
 New public space will enhance this vibrant commercial district with the removal of two of six streets, signal timing simplified to benefit remaining movements, new refuge islands and shortened crosswalks. |
| |
Gansevoort, Manhattan
Project Presentation (pdf)
Project Images (pdf) |
|
DOT partnered with local community organizations to create instant plazas on cobble stone streets this spring; creating a vibrant space for nightlife or midday retreat. |
| |
City Hall Sidewalk
Project Image |
|
DOT converted a wide sidewalk into an extension of the park by providing tables and chairs. |
| |
| |
|
2007
|
Grand Army Plaza
Project Presentation (pdf)
Project Images (pdf)
Press Release |
|
New islands and crosswalks now connect Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park with each other and two neighborhoods previously divided. |
| |
Ninth Avenue & W. 14th Street, Manhattan
Project Presentation (pdf)
Project Images (pdf) |
|
A new tear drop plaza transformed Ninth Avenue's 100' long north crosswalk into two short ones, with smaller plazas across the street. |
| |
Pearl Street DUMBO, Brooklyn
Project Images (pdf)
Press Release |
|
 DOT partnered with local business owners to transform a parking lot into community open space, giving DUMBO a new center. |
| |
| |
|
2006
|
Willoughby Street, Brooklyn
Project Images (pdf) |
|
Looking like any little-used road until the plaza furniture was put out...then people were sitting moments after the chairs left their boxes. |
Back To Top
|
Safety and Greening
|
| |
|
2009
|
Metropolitan and Bushwick Avenues
Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
The traffic calming of Metropolitan and Bushwick Avenue in the Cooper Park area of Brooklyn will increase pedestrian safety and access. The ideas were first proposed by neighborhood residents through their local Community Board. Landscaped pedestrian refuge islands at both Humboldt and Bushwick Avenues along Metropolitan will reduce conflicts while improving the streetscape for all road users. The sidewalk expansion on Orient Avenue at Metropolitan will provide a shorter crossing distance with a new crosswalk. It will also feature a NYC Parks & Recreation landscaped drainage swale. For more details see the presentation to Brooklyn Community Board 1. |
| |
Schermerhorn Street- Transit Plaza, Traffic Calming and Bicycle Parking
Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
This project will create a roadbed plaza at the corner of Hoyt and Schermerhorn Street in front of the subway station. The plaza will provide space for bicycle parking, pedestrian circulation and will prevent illegal parking on the sidewalk. |
| |
Flatbush Avenue at Church Avenue, Brooklyn
Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
Flatbush Avenue at Church Avenue will be improved for pedestrian safety and to reduce traffic congestion. The changes clarify the path for through-traffic smoothly around double-parked vehicles mid-block and left-turning vehicles at the intersection. Pedestrian exposure to vehicles in the crosswalks will be reduced. |
| |
12th Avenue at W. 135th Street, Manhattan
Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
Installation of a green median on a wide portion of 12th Avenue at W. 135th Street. The median allows for two-way traffic on a previously one-way street, improving vehicular access to a row of recently developed restaurants/night clubs. The landscaped median also increases safety and aesthetics for pedestrians accessing Riverside Park. |
| |
Jackson Avenue, Queens
Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
The 2009 improvements at Jackson Avenue and the Pulaski Bridge in Queens, improve pedestrian safety and enhance the streetscape of this burgeoning neighborhood. The project responds to community concerns about the lack of a south crosswalk at the bridge. This new crosswalk benefits residents as well as transit riders transferring from bus to subway. Pedestrian refuge islands make crossings safer and a separate signal for right-turns coming off the bridge removes conflicts from the east crosswalk. For more details see the updated presentation that was presented to Queens Community Board 2. |
| |
|
2008
|
East Tremont Avenue, Bronx
Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
Where there was once a small painted island, a 1,750 sq. ft. landscaped island with new crosswalks and pedestrian ramps was built, creating a safe and attractive place for Lehman High School students navigating traffic approaching the Hutchinson River Parkway. |
| |
Grand, Maspeth & Flushing, Queens
Project Presentation (pdf) |
|
Two slivers of traffic islands were connected to discourage illegal truck movements, improve safety and create a landscaped plaza to be maintained by a merchants group. |
| |
| Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn |
|
We put a four lane street into a "road diet." The slimmed down version has two vehicle lanes with bike lanes, a median and green refuge islands and the same carrying capacity. |
| |
Carlton Avenue, Brooklyn
Project Presentation (pdf)
Project Images (pdf) |
|
A wide, one way, residential street transformed into a two-way street with bike lanes and two long medians with 30 trees. |
| |
Canal & Forsyth Streets, Manhattan
Project Images (pdf) |
|
Manhattan bridge access and safety project. Eliminated conflicts with bikes through sidewalk widening, added a planted median separating the bike lane and shortening crosswalks on Canal Street. |
| |
| Brighton Beach Senior Safety Islands, Brooklyn |
|
One of many safety locations making crossing streets easier for the city's most vulnerable road users. |
Green Refuge Islands
A new pedestrian refuge island design incorporates landscaping for safety as well as neighborhood enhancement. Each island incorporates a tree for visibility, wider cut-throughs to comfortably accommodate groups of pedestrians in the crosswalk, adjacent sidewalk space for pedestrian overflow, and protection from turning vehicles on the intersection-side of the island. Projects where green refuge islands have been incorporated include Grand Street in Manhattan, Lafayette Avenue in the Bronx, Hillside Avenue in Queens, Northern Boulevard in Queens, Broadway in Williamsburg, and Vernon Boulevard in Queens.
Hillside Avenue, Queens
Project Presentation (pdf) Northern Boulevard, Queens
Project Presentation (pdf) Ninth Avenue, Manhattan
Project Presentation (pdf)
Back To Top
Pedestrian Oriented Reconstruction Projects
In Preliminary Design
Tillary Street
Project Presentation (pdf)
Brooklyn Bridge Gateway Reconstruction Project Page
The gateway to Brooklyn, from the historic Brooklyn Bridge, will soon be redesigned as part of a capital reconstruction project, anticipated to take place in 2012 with a multi-million dollar budget, encompassing all of Tillary Street and portions of Adams Street. NYCDOT is currently soliciting public input on the design and function of this vital gateway.
In Final Design
East Houston Street
New on-street bicycle lanes and raised landscaped medians will be added along with neckdowns to shorten crosswalks. East 1st and 2nd Streets will be realigned to create landscaped plazas and simplify the current multi-legged intersections. East Village, Astor Place - Cooper Square
Landscaped streetscapes, larger Cooper Park, new Astor Place and subway island plazas, and a large community park south-west of a newly normalized Fourth and Third Avenue intersection. Herald Square
In 2000, DOT added temporary improvements such as shortened crosswalks and larger sidewalk areas to the complex intersection of Broadway's crossing of the Avenue of the Americas at W. 34th Street. These safety improvements were expanded upon during the recent Green Light for Midtown project with the closure of Broadway between W. 35th and W. 33rd Streets. All of the changes are being considered in the final design phase. Fifth Avenue, Sunset Park & Greenwood Cemetery
These two projects will shorten over 75 crosswalks with neckdowns (sidewalk widenings). Seventh Avenue Penn Center
Pedestrian Safety Improvements (pdf)
Nine neckdowns and sections of widened sidewalk will be added between W. 34th and 31st Street.
Constructed
Grand Concourse, E. 161st Street to E. 166th Street
Project Presentation (pdf)
DOT narrowed service roads with raised planted medians and built Lou Gehrig Plaza in what had been a parking lot. DOT shrank the intersection of E. 161st and Grand Concourse with shortened crosswalks and eliminated the merge between the Service Road and Main Line. Next, DOT will build permanent raised planted malls replacing the temporary planters between E. 166th and E. 171st Streets. Fifth Avenue Bay Ridge
Neckdowns and enhancements were added to this 2004 reconstruction project.
Manhattan Avenue Road-End Park
This 2007 project carved away part of a parking lot to provide the community a waterfront Manhattan-skyline-view park on Newtown Creek with a kayak launch.
Back To Top
|  |
