Raising the Veil on Traffic Tragedies
Pedestrian deaths and family love deserve more media coverage
By Bette Dewing
Here’s hoping that “all the news that’s fit to print” paper’s new executive editor, Jill Abramson, and news editor, Dean Baquet, give more coverage to non-political violent crime and to what I’ve long called crimes of traffic.
Dangerous Intersections
By Dan Rivoli
In March, the Upper East Side was called the best place for retirees. But new statistics from the Department of Transportation say the neighborhood has the most dangerous intersections for seniors in the city.
In a list of 50 intersections with the most accidents involving senior pedestrians between 2004 and 2008, the Upper East Side clocked in nine locations. Of that group, First Avenue and East 57th Street had the most crashes (seven accidents and six injuries). Read more
Three Lanes to Close on 2nd Ave. for Subway Equipment Delivery
The machine that will make the Second Avenue subway a reality will be assembled over the next few weeks, though up to three lanes of traffic on Second Avenue will need to be closed to accommodate delivery.
Starting April 19, the 22-foot tunnel boring machine and 18 double-deck rail cars holding back-up equipment will be delivered to the construction site. Locomotives to haul material into the tunnel and rail cars for removal of excavated material will also be delivered. Read more
Solution for Traffic Hazards
To the Editor:
I have just finished reading “Transit Group Tackles Most Dangerous Streets” (March 11), and must admit that I am not surprised by the designation of East 86th Street, at both Third and Second avenues, as among the highest in number of crashes.
However, were you to include the number of pedestrians hit, injured and/or killed by vehicular traffic, then East 86th Street and First Avenue and, more importantly, York Avenue, would come out very much ahead. Read more
Crack-down on Traffic Dangers
Here’s to posters and banners in every government office reminding legislators that their first Constitutional duty is to protect public safety, especially now, when they’re planning to cut budgets for police, fire fighting and the safest travel mode, public transit.
Government evidently needs to learn that moving traffic violations are life and death matters. And bicycling violations are not mere quality of life offenses, especially when they are everywhere—even on low-traffic East End Avenue. Walking just one block home from the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association meeting, Ruth S. was almost struck by a delivery food bike speeding along the sidewalk. I yelled, “Off the walk!” The problem is, nobody else ever does, even though lawless biking is often deplored at civic meetings. Read more
Transit Group Tackles Most Dangerous Streets
A transit advocacy group has identified the five most dangerous intersections on the East Side—and is aiming to halve the number of vehicle crashes that result in pedestrian and cyclist injuries or death each year.
Transportation Alternatives, a non-profit that promotes walking, biking and public transit in New York City, is organizing an “East Side Streets Coalition” that will host a series of community forums. The goal is to determine what the city can do to make the Upper East Side a less hazardous place for pedestrians and cyclists, and to compile an “East Side Action Plan” of recommendations to be released this fall. Read more
City Presents ‘Fast’ Bus Plan For East Side
The MTA and the city’s Department of Transportation revealed an early draft of a plan that would install an expedited bus system and protected bicycle lanes on First and Second avenues. The bus plan, alternately called “bus rapid transit” and “select bus service,” was presented by officials at a Jan. 14 Community Advisory Committee meeting at the Hunter College School of Social Work.
The proposal would dramatically change the landscape of two of the East Side’s—and the borough’s—main avenues. Transit officials estimate that the plans would increase bus travel speed by 20 to 25 percent. Read more
Dirty Air Culprit: Old Boilers
When a report from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene detailed street-level pollutants in the five boroughs, the Upper East Side was found to be—somewhat surprisingly—one of the dirtiest neighborhoods.
Traffic in the area, which is home to the 59th Street Bridge, the RFK Bridge and the FDR Drive, certainly affects air quality. But the survey found that oil-burning furnaces are big pollution contributors, and these furnaces are often found in the decades-old tenement style buildings and prewar apartments that populate the neighborhood. These buildings burn a heavier grade of oil that produces a large chunk of the city’s pollution. Read more
BUS/BIKE LANE GETS SUPPORT
Manhattan’s elected officials are pushing for a transportation plan that includes protected bicycle lanes with bus rapid transit.
Currently, the Department of Transportation is planning to bring “select bus service,” as bus rapid transit is known, to First and Second avenues. The transit strategy speeds up bus trips during rush hour by allowing riders to pay before boarding, restricting buses to dedicated lanes and giving buses traffic signal priority.
But elected officials from lower Manhattan to East Harlem signed a letter earlier this month in support of placing separated lanes for buses and bicycles on First and Second avenues.
“We urge you to take the project further,” the letter to Transportation Commissioner Jannette Sadik-Khan states. “True [Bus Rapid Transit] can be faster and more reliable than traditional bus service.”
Elsewhere, Transportation Alternatives and Upper Green Side, an environmental group, started the East River Greenway Initiative, a campaign dedicated to turning the waterfront area into an esplanade that rivals the West Side’s Hudson River Greenway. The group is also pushing for a complete waterfront bicycle lane, which has a gap from East 37th to 63rd streets.
“The East Side has this derelict, ignored green way,” said Michael Auerbach, president of Upper Green Side. “The East Side deserves a great park and waterfront access. Having a greenway and an off-road bicycle lane will give people the motivation to cycle.”
Updates and information on the waterfront initiative can be found at eastrivergreenway.wordpress.com
Extended Season of Thanks
“Thanksgiving should be at least a week earlier,” my neighbor Karyn, a teacher, wisely opined. Too much is crunched into December. Personally, there’s also my birthday on St. Nicholas Day (a most kindly saint) and two family birthdays Dec. 30, and it’s also family reunion time.
Too much to crunch into this column, too, but here goes: Yorkville’s mighty thankful that the Cherokee Post Office has been saved—but use it or lose it. And here’s hoping that all-out civic “endeavoring” will now be directed against some too-little assailed chronic oppressors, like: Read more
