City plans new rules for deadly Broadway

After years of outcry from residents and community board members, the Department of Transportation plans to institute traffic calming measures to Broadway between West 242nd Street and the Westchester line.

Residents have complained about the two-mile stretch of Broadway because they say motorists often speed, creating danger for pedestrians who try to cross into Van Cortlandt Park despite a lack of crosswalks along much of the stretch. 

Most recently, on Saturday, two cars crashed into each other on Broadway near Mosholu Avenue, sending one person to the hospital, according to news reports.

The DOT’s plan, which was obtained by The Press, is to reduce the width of travel lanes in both directions. Currently, double yellow lines split the 68-foot-wide road in half. There is a 12-foot moving lane and a 22-foot moving/parking lane.

The source said the DOT’s plan includes reducing the width of the 12-foot moving lane to 11 feet and painting a new solid white line 13 feet from the street, which will create a second moving lane and some space between parked cars and traffic.

The DOT will announce its plan at a special meeting of Community Board 8’s Traffic and Transportation Committee on Tuesday, Aug. 14.

“I’m glad that they’re going to be making changes to the corridor. They are well needed,” Dan Padernacht, chair of CB 8’s Traffic and Transportation Committee, said.

In April 2010, 25-year old Ana Estevez was killed after she left a Mexican restaurant on Broadway and crossed to get into her car.  In December, Nilo Montilla was struck and killed by a bus turning off Mosholu Avenue and onto Broadway.

According to CrashStat — an online project funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — the stretch of Broadway has seen eight pedestrian fatalities in the years before that, between 1995 and 2009.