Notes from Thursday's traffic calming meeting

Street traffic is a little like plumbing: it's not a particularly sexy issue. But in the same way plumbing is essential to a comfortable, functioning house, street design is the lifeblood of public spaces.

Last week, about 15 PLG residents gathered to discuss ways to make our streets safer and more liveable. Will Sherman, Public Space Advocate for Transportation Alternatives, showed various traffic calming methods that have been used in New York City, and we talked about priorities for our neighborhood.

This meeting was only the first step, and we hope other PLGers will join us as we move forward with some of the following plans.

WHAT ARE SOME POSSIBLE TRAFFIC CALMING METHODS FOR PLG?

Neckdowns: The curb is extended about 10 feet (the width of the parking lane) at a crossing, which reduces the road distance a pedestrian has to cross, makes drivers slow down on turns, and, by narrowing the street, encourages drivers to slow down through the intersection. Neckdowns could work in various PLG intersections. We discussed placing them where residential blocks (such as Winthrop) intersect with larger roads (such as Bedford). Neckdowns are relatively cheap and therefore more doable than many calming measures. If community members play an active role, it's also possible to build these out as attractive green spaces.

Speed humps: One of the cheapest, easiest ways to slow traffic along residential streets. According to TA, concerns about increased noise or auto emissions are misplaced: noise has only been found to increase on truck routes, and emissions aren't affected on streets of this size. (Drivers in NYC speed up about 3 mph after going over humps, but speed overall is decreased, so there is no net gain in emissions.) One participant explained why he didn't want humps: the "BUMP" warning signs are ugly.

Chicanes: a series of curves built into an otherwise straight street, which force drivers to slow down to safely drive through them. (For more examples, see this and this.)

Re-timing traffic signal progression: According to TA, the way traffic engineers set the timing of light intervals encourages speeding. Re-timing the lights to slow drivers down and make streets more pedestrian-friendly is a relatively cheap form of calming. Perhaps this could be considered on Rogers Ave.

Pedestrian lead interval: Another cheap calming technique, the timing of traffic lights can be changed to give pedestrians up to an 8 second head-start crossing the street by holding all cars with a red light.  If pedestrians begin crossing before cars can turn, they are easier for drivers to see; drivers may also be less likely to gun the engine to try to turn ahead of pedestrians, stranding them in the crosswalk. This method could help improve safety on intersections with many pedestrians, such as Flatbush & Lincoln, Ocean & Parkside, Parkside & Flatbush, or Washington and Empire.

Raised median: On large streets where pedestrians sometimes run out of time when crossing, a raised median can offer a refuge. This could come in handy on Flatbush & Empire, for example.

Red light cameras: There was a great deal of interest in having red-light cameras installed at selected intersections (such as Parkside & Flatbush) to cut down on drivers running red lights. New York State government limits the installation of cameras, and has only granted the City rights to install 100 (which have already been placed). We can write letters to our local State Assembly members and Senators encouraging them to support legislation that increases the number of red light cameras that New York City can install, and that authorizes the use of speeding enforcement cameras too. According to TA, these enforcement cameras are proven to save lives, by reducing speeding, red light running, and the crashes they lead to.

OUR PRIORITIES FOR PLG

1. Ocean & Parkside intersection: Most everyone agreed that this entrance to Prospect Park is a nightmare. There's no clear route for cyclists to enter or exit; The traffic lights have drivers turning onto Ocean precisely when people are trying to cross the street there. And the time allotted for pedestrians crossing is too brief.

Possible solutions:
* raised median on Ocean
* curb extensions
* lead pedestrian interval for crossing lights
* raised crosswalk on Prospect Park driveway
* bollards to protect pedestrian spaces
* create clearly marked bike paths into and out of Prospect Park

2. Speeding on Rogers Avenue
Converting Rogers into a two-way street, while desirable, would be incredibly expensive, so it's unlikely the DOT would even consider it. Raised crosswalks also aren't possible because the road is a fire truck/emergency route. Perhaps the best option here is to repaint the street to stripe out one lane and to put in a buffered bike lane. This would make the run appear narrower, cutting down on speeding, and would have the added bonus of providing a bike lane. It's also a fairly cheap and easy fix.

3. Lack of clear bike lane routes
The bike lane simply disappears from Lincoln to Maple, leaving cyclists with nowhere to go other than Flatbush Ave. The bike lanes on Lincoln between Flatbush and Ocean aren't set apart from the car lanes. The bike lanes on Bedford are routinely blocked by cars, both parked and turning. The general feeling is that biking in our neighborhood is particularly precarious.

4. Empire & Flatbush
No one at the meeting specifically mentioned walking across this intersection much, but it's one of the most dangerous in the neighborhood. A raised crosswalk on Flatbush, along with pedestrian lead intervals were suggested improvements.

OTHER CONCERNS THAT CAME UP

• Dollar vans on Flatbush driving recklessly
  
• Cyclists need to follow road laws too
  
• Traffic along Winthrop seems to have tripled in the past couple of years, coming from the hospital; lots more speeding too
  
• Can the B12 bus route extend a little further to connect to the F?

NEXT STEPS

• Write a working document detailing recommendations for the priority locations, including renderings and diagrams to illustrate traffic calming methods in use
• Create flyers, petitions, charettes, and/or public display at the Parkside Ave subway stop, to get people involved and interested in traffic calming that intersection (and others)
• Build support and participation among neighbors, local groups, schools, churches and elected officials to call on the Department of Transportation to implement neighborhood traffic calming in Prospect Lefferts Garden
  

Comments

[Bob M]

Brownstoner has listed this proposal for DeKalb Ave.:

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/03/dekalb_ave_like.php#comments

Maybe it could be a model for Rogers?

[jessica]

I was looking today at the Brooklyn Bus map for an entirely different reason, but...

I'm a little confused about the request for the B12 bus to be extended. We've already got the B16 going to (admittedly the south end of) Windsor Terrace, and the B35 which DOES connect to the F train in Kensington.

Would an extension of the B12 make that much of a difference?

[Charles Star]

I mentioned the Church Ave. bus (B35) at the meeting but (a) it is on Church Avenue, which almost drew boos and (b) I know from experience that the 35 is only marginally faster than walking.

On the other hand, I didn't know about the 16, which goes as close to the Ft. Hamilton F station as a bus can get (at Caton/Ocean Pkwy). It goes South on Ocean Ave. to Caton, then Southwest. Even if the 12 was extended along Parkside, the Prospect Expressway would channel the bus down Coney Island Ave. to Caton anyway.

Upon further review, I think an extension of the B12 would be redundant.

[jessica]

The B16's great for getting to Kensington or, say, David Shannon Florist or Burger King (since that is the one fast food joint our neighborhood doesn't seen to have, strangely enough). It's pretty useless for getting to Bay Ridge though - I tried that once and it is much faster to take the subway.

I agree that there is a need for transportation to south slope; perhaps the B12 *is* the answer. Rather than extending it just to the F train, why not have it run up Prospect Park Southwest the way the B68 does?

[M]

Precarious biking makes for exciting living, though, right? You can have the thrill of almost dying every single day!

Marc