CB1 Gives (Mixed) Blessings to Medians in Southern BPC
Community Board 1 supported a city proposal to put medians (inset) on South End Avenue, shown here, and on West Thames Street. Photos: NYCDOT
The city Department of Transportation announced a proposal last month to install raised, concrete medians on South End Avenue and West Thames Street with the goal of improving pedestrian safety in Battery Park City.
Community Board 1 gave its approval to the plan, but with some reservations.
Following a discussion with the board's Battery Park City Committee last month, the DOT is planning to put six “pedestrian islands” on South End Avenue and another two on West Thames Street, between South End Avenue and West Street. A proposed median on South End, near Liberty Street, was dropped by the DOT at the committee’s request. Those street changes, along with several others, are expected to be made in the first half of next year.
The proposed medians, which would replace parts of the existing yellow-painted stripes, are intended to give pedestrians a place to wait in the middle of the wide streets, as well as slow vehicular traffic and discourage cars from double-parking.
They would be installed next year near the following intersections:
• South End Avenue at West Thames Street
• South End Avenue at Rector Place
• South End Avenue at Albany Street
• South End Avenue between Albany and Liberty streets
• South End Avenue at Liberty Street
• West Thames Street between West Street and Battery Place
• West Thames Street between Battery Place and South End Avenue
Other proposed changes to the streets include:
• Painted crosswalks and “Yield to Pedestrian” signs on South End Avenue at West Thames and on South End Avenue at Rector Place.
• The sidewalk along Liberty Street near the corner of South End Avenue will be widened to make for a shorter crossing at Liberty.
The full board voted in favor of the overall project at its Oct. 22 meeting but asked the DOT to reconsider the two medians slated for West Thames, after three residents of 200 Rector Pl., a building with an entrance on West Thames, voiced objection to them.
Lucy Kuhn said that, with three nearby bus stops and frequent food deliveries made in the vicinity, the West Thames traffic islands would “compromise the traffic flow.”
CB1 public member Justine Cuccia also expressed concern about the possible congestion the islands could cause, particularly since West Thames has an entrance to a parking garage. “I’m asking the committee to table West Thames Street and get the DOT back to have a conversation on that one issue,” she said. “Sometimes, [there are] cars double-parked or people unloading, and whatever else.”
Gus Ouranitsas also asked the board to revisit the issue at a later date. “I don’t like to neglect the safety of any of the children that this is proposed for,” he said, “but I think we can find alternatives—better crosswalks, additional stop signs, and perhaps a traffic light.”
A DOT study concluded that the total number of traffic-related injuries—13 between 2007 and 2011, one of which was severe—as well as the volume of traffic did not justify the need for traffic lights in the area.