Point of view

Broadway plan wedlock will create traffic gridlock

Posted

On May 4, you published your account of the transportation department’s presentation to Community Board 8’s Traffic and Transportation Committee (re: “Broadway plan hits a bump in the road”). They billed their plan as a way to slow traffic on Broadway and make it safer.

While a laudable goal, the presented plan — a replica of a DOT project in Brooklyn — is not the way to accomplish their stated goal, and will result in negative consequences. 

Councilman Andrew Cohen stated, “I believe that north Broadway is underperforming,” and pointed out similar changes that were made in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park West. “I don’t see why North Riverdale can’t be Prospect Park West.” The DOT presenters also made reference to, and used photos from, their Prospect Park West project.

Any plan for Broadway must include a realistic and in-depth examination of all aspects of Broadway and the conditions that impact it. A proposal based on one used in Brooklyn will do more harm than good.

Not at all like Broadway, Prospect Park West runs in one direction (southbound) for less than a mile alongside Prospect Park, the “Central Park” of Brooklyn. There is a promenade-style wide sidewalk with benches and park entrances on the park side of the street, and many of Brooklyn’s wealthiest and most powerful residents in historic homes on the other.

A major complaint of the Park Slope community was the number of cyclists using the sidewalk, creating a danger to pedestrians.

Broadway, on the other hand, is a major north-south route. It is Route 9, a regional artery, and as such, is a truck route and an alternate to Interstate 87. All too often, Broadway is pressed into serving as a thoroughfare for emergency vehicles. Unlike Prospect Park West, Broadway is a major transportation link for commuters — busses for Westchester and the Bronx bring passengers to the northern terminal station on the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line of the subway system.

Broadway hosts multiple commercial enterprises, and the 240th Street rail yard is just beyond the scope of the project. Manhattan College is just a few blocks west of Broadway.

Van Cortlandt Park is quite different from Prospect Park. It is a regional track and field venue, host to adult and youth athletic leagues as well. Scores of busses use Broadway to bring athletes to the park. These busses are in addition to the inter-county and city busses that ply Broadway.

The proposal did not take into account the effect of stopped traffic and double-parking on Broadway.

Commissioner Nivardo Lopez said that double-parking is not a problem easily solved by the transportation department. DOT may not be able to solve the double-parking problem, but the changes proposed can, and will, exacerbate the consequences of double-parking on Broadway. And he is most certainly wrong in his assertion that narrowing the parking lane wouldn’t change double-parking conditions either way.

Currently, a car stopped to drop off athletes and their equipment does not impede northbound traffic flow because the lane is wide enough to almost accommodate both cars. Under the proposal, that same car will block a traffic lane, causing a backup, and/or motorists cutting off other motorists to get into the left lane.

Stopped trucks or emergency vehicles in the narrowed right lane have the potential of encouraging northbound traffic to veer into southbound traffic. Worse yet, emergency responders stopped or slowed will have their response time lengthened.

As we pointed out at the meeting, double-parking will increase on the west side of Broadway. Imagine that car discharging athletes and their equipment on the west side, and those youngsters running across the street to get to the park.

The traffic bottlenecks that will result from the plan will drive cars onto the side streets, and trucks onto Riverdale Avenue.

This proposal will cause additional problems and will not result in a safer Broadway. That said, if the goal is to slow the rate of speed on Broadway, that can be done by adding traffic signals and crosswalks, and timing those signals to regulate traffic flow.

Before nay action is taken, every aspect of Broadway must be considered. Councilman Cohen told the CB8 meeting, “I don’t think I am married, and I don’t think anyone is married to anything specific in this plan.” 

This is an excellent stand as wedlock with this plan will result in gridlock.

Deirdre Burke

Comments