Pause City's 'Slow Zone' Street Plan for Lower Manhattan, CB1 Says

The speed limit on West Street, below Canal Street, would be reduced from 25 to 20 miles an hour, under the city's Regional Slow Zone plan. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Slam the brakes on a “Slow Zone” for Lower Manhattan. That’s Community Board 1’s message to the city, calling for a pause to the Department of Transportation plan to cut speed limits by 5 miles an hour below Canal Street. The “Regional Slow Zone,” announced [1] in June and the first in the city, would reduce the speed limit on West Street (Route 9A) from 30 to 25 miles an hour. Other streets, including Canal Street, would be lowered to 20 miles an hour from 25 miles an hour. (“Shared streets,” which so far do not exist in Lower Manhattan, would be reduced to 10 miles an hour.)

CB1 wants to suspend the speed reductions until results of a planned state transportation study of the state-controlled West Street, from 59th Street to Battery Place, is concluded.

The board’s position, voted on late last month, followed a confusing sequence of discussions and votes that began with an approval in the board’s Transportation Committee. But the full board later disagreed, first voting to disapprove the plan. Noting a seeming misinterpretation of what the board was voting on, CB1 President Tammy Meltzer called for further review and a second vote in the “new business” portion of the meeting. Meltzer said the study may lead to changes to the street that could impact the speed limit. “We would be just asking them not to do the Slow Zone in Lower Manhattan until the study is done,” she said. “That gives us an opportunity to see—we may lose lanes, we may gain, we don’t know.”

In a statement to the Trib, state DOT spokesman Joe Morrissey said that “in the coming weeks” the agency will be doing outreach to communities about the study, which he said is expected to be completed in two years. 

“The study will focus on potential safety enhancements for all modes of transportation along the corridor from Battery Place to 59th Street, with concepts developed that could potentially lead to future projects along the corridor,” he wrote. Morrissey declined to comment on the CB1 resolution. 

A city DOT spokesman also declined to comment on the resolution, saying that the agency “will review the board’s feedback.” The DOT said on Oct. 9 that it would roll out the Slow Zone for Lower Manhattan this month. 

The prospect of reducing Lower Manhattan speed limits, especially on West Street, sparked debate among community board members.

“The speed limit now is ridiculous. Reducing the speed limit on West Street is even more of a ridiculous proposal,” said Marc Ameruso.

“If you’re traveling to Upper Manhattan, Queens or Brooklyn, it just takes things slower in travel time,” said Eric Yu. “Now, also keep in mind, by lowering the speed, you increase the arrival time of fire trucks and ambulances.”

Cody Lyon, quoting a study by the group Health Resources in Action [2], said that the risk of death from being hit by a car traveling 30 miles an hour is 19%, three times greater than if the car was going 20 miles an hour.

“I mean, I understand that people feel that this is extreme,” he said. “But lowering the speed limit is actually about saving lives.”

Ten years ago the city reduced the speed limit from 30 to 25 miles an hour, unless otherwise posted. Earlier this year, the city DOT introduced its Slow Zone initiative, spurred by the advocacy of Families for Safe Streets and Amy Cohen, whose 12-year-old son Sammy Cohen Eckstein was killed by a speeding driver in 2013. The lower zones are made possible by state legislation known as “Sammy’s Law [3],” signed by Gov. Hochul in May.