Traffic Lights and Crosswalks in Dumbo

There’s been an active discussion on the Dumbo Parent’s Organization (DPO) in the past week about the recent change in traffic patterns, resident concerns, and increased pedestrians in Dumbo. Dumbo’s first stop light was installed in August 2010, and residents say that another review of intersections need to be revisited. Last week, the Brooklyn Eagle published an opinion piece on why Dumbo needs more traffic lights given the shift from a purely industrial district to the busy urban area it is today. Today’s Dumbo, the writer Raanan Geberer says is radically different: “There are condo buildings, retail stores, restaurants, offices and more. The bicycle craze has also hit the area in a big, big way, and several Citi Bike racks are in the area. There are several construction sites, which means more trucks and delivery vans. While DUMBO isn’t exactly Times Square, it is now a busy urban area. And it is clear to me that more traffic lights are needed.”

After the jump below are some posts from members of DPO. Tell us in the comments what you think.

Reader “MM” says:

Been thinking for sometime that the traffic and crosswalks in dumbo are a disaster. And I’m sure most of you heard that a nanny (while caring for kids) and cyclist were recently hit by cars in the neighborhood. One incident was a hit and run…

Reader “PK” wrote:

This soooooo ties into the revamping of the park and Empire stores and Tobacco warehouse where hundreds of more cars and trucks and tour busses and now citibikes each day will invade our small streets with almost no thought to pedestrians and neighbors ..

We are kind of in a traffic nightmare / dangerous conditions right now —
YET We were actually told in the recent meeting that the study done in 2006 or so said we will not have any adverse conditions to our neighborhood or to traffic once they build a few restaurants, a dozen stores, open St. Ann’s Warehouse, open a Catering Hall, maybe a few galleries, not to forget the Dock street project 40 ft away a new 17 story building with maybe 400 studio or 1 bedroom apt and which will hold a middle schools for 300 students…and a new 1 John Street with another 130 units of housing at Adams St right in the park in dumbo ..

Did i forget to mention the Film Crews ???

Seems logical to me to have some coordnated plan – I can not believe that pedestrian deaths or injury is an acceptable part of doing business .. collateral damage within the perimeters of acceptability — if you do not attempt to plan for the extra thousands of people a day ,tour busses, 300 more school children, delivery trucks, in one square block then you are factoring in the possabilty of a few traffic ACCIDENTS as the price doing business.

Reader “KG” says:

I agree with the list of problem intersections and would like to add the intersection of York and Front Streets to the list. The cars making a left hand turn onto Front from York cannot see around the buses and frequently ignore the pedestrians trying to get across. The cars turning right onto York often speed up to beat an oncoming car. The stop sign here is not enough.

Another from “AK”:

I find that the intersection of Washington & Front, Washington & Plymouth, and especially Pearl & York quite tricky. People often go right thru without stopping. Also the speed of drivers is quite scary at times. Sometimes they just fly by on the cobblestones and its quite hard to stop so they just continue. I witnessed a bus with JW passengers hit a cyclist the other day on front & pearl however it was the cyclists fault as they were flying down pearl against the one way & did not stop at the intersection. Everyone seemed to be ok and no police were called. Please keep us posted on whatever we can do to help make dumbo a safe place to walk! I particularly get annoyed as well with the adult cyclists on sidewalks and zooming thru the parks (I can understand kids on sidewalks & parks bc it’s only safe place for them). I believe most of the parks in dumbo state no biking etc.. I’ve been run down several times in the park walking my child and on sidewalks by adult bikers.. Mostly tourists.

Reader “HT” says:

The Bridge and Front Street intersection only has one stop sign on Front before crossing Bridge, however it is located on the far right side of the sidewalk and people cannot see it and drive through daily. There needs to be at two additional signs at this intersection. Both directions on Bridge Street and the current one needs to be moved closer to the street. Once cars get through the stop and go traffic in the main section of DUMBO, they really pick up speed at this intersection, I see potential accidents on a daily basis.

Reader “JP” wrote:

Could the person bringing the list of safety concerns to the powers that be please also ask about turning Washington between Front and York into a one-way street again? The road is WAY too narrow to support two lanes of traffic (not to mention two parking lanes on weekends). There are constantly delivery trucks dropping off items, creating a situation where regularly sized cars have to blindly try to pass them in order to move at all. Sometimes there will be a delivery truck on one side of the street and a resident unloading a car on the other side, leading to a literal standstill. The situation results in cars and trucks honking nonstop and at all hours of the day and night, which is both unsafe and incredibly disruptive to those of us who live on Washington Street. Add to that the hordes of pedestrians standing in the middle of the street trying to snap photos of the manhattan bridge/empire state building and it is a huge accident waiting to happen.

And another post by “MK” about meeting with the Dumbo Neighborhood Association:

Yesterday I got in touch with Doreen Gallo, who heads the Dumbo Neighborhood Association and has done work for years on behalf of Dumbo with the DOT and MTA. She is now in on this conversation and plans to set up a meting with Councilman Levin in order to demand action from the city. She asked me to put together a list of dangerous intersections, which I have done and pasted below, based on my experience and your notes from yesterday DNA will send a letter to the Brooklyn DOT Commissioner with a list of concerns that need immediate attention. We’ll ask for a walking tour and if we don’t get immediate response DNA will hold a community meeting.

Problem Intersections:

York and Washington, which has a three way stop sign, is probably the most pressing. People often roll right thru the intersection on York as pedestrians, kids on scooters and in strollers, stream down that hill on Washington from Brooklyn Heights schools, as was the case two weeks ago when a motorist ran the stop sign to go around a car that had stopped for a nanny pushing a stroller. The car struck the nanny and knocked over the stroller.

Main and Front is a terrible corner because of the cars turning left on Main, the many many people crossing Main on Front to Starbucks, and the parking lot at 45 main where people make illegal left turns on to Front. Plus the b25 bus — this one is a monster but i think there has been analysis on this one? Perhaps a deliniated crosswalk here on front? A stop sign on Front at Main? Many families try to cross from the Starbucks side of Front to the other side of the street, especially in the mornings, and they are just taking a chance running across the street. Seems like this shouldn’t be so risky so there should probably be a crosswalk on front as well as main at that corner, as well as a stop sign.

All along Front Street is scary, Washington and Front, Adams and Front, Pearl and Front, Jay and Front, Bridge and Front. Jay and Front is the only one where people seem to stop at the stop signs, but bikers going the wrong way are also a problem here.

Bridge and Front needs a stop sign on Bridge coming toward the water, there is only a stop sign on front and not on bridge.

Jay and Water needs better curbs for strollers and wheelchairs, a crosswalk, and a stop sign on Jay, not just on Water. This is another risky one where many people try to cross while cars come barrelling down Jay fast. There are often trucks parked on jay illegally for filming as well.

Overall we probably need more police enforcement to monitor walking, biking, and driving, particularly as the park develops farther.

She will let us know when the meeting with Steve Levin will take place and others from this board who are concerned and want to be active in this issue can attend. If we have the councilman's ear I would also like to know what the situation is with the filming in the neighborhood and whether we as residents have any rights to compensation toward our Neighborhood Association. I would like to understand that process better as I believe it is also connected to these traffic and safety issues as well.

18 Comment

  • Before I moved out from DUMBO, I was trying to find out how to request a neckdown at Main & Front. I think a neckdown + stop sign (on Front) would help slow traffic down there. Speeding on Front is all but encouraged by that nice long run from Fulton to Washington.

    Washington either needs to be one way, or the parking needs to be on one side only. I kind of think a two-way Washington with no parking at all would work well for traffic flow, but also has almost no chance of happening.

  • Before I moved out from DUMBO, I was trying to find out how to request a neckdown at Main & Front. I think a neckdown + stop sign (on Front) would help slow traffic down there. Speeding on Front is all but encouraged by that nice long run from Fulton to Washington.

    Washington either needs to be one way, or the parking needs to be on one side only. I kind of think a two-way Washington with no parking at all would work well for traffic flow, but also has almost no chance of happening.

  • Has anyone ever received a moving vehicle violation in DUMBO? I agree a traffic plan is absolutely necessary. A nice start would be citations for the cars (especially the cabs and limos) that run the stop signs and the bicyclists who ignore the one way signs and ride the sidewalks.

  • Has anyone ever received a moving vehicle violation in DUMBO? I agree a traffic plan is absolutely necessary. A nice start would be citations for the cars (especially the cabs and limos) that run the stop signs and the bicyclists who ignore the one way signs and ride the sidewalks.

  • Also Washington Street needs to be made one way between Front and York. It is the source of many messes each day

  • Also Washington Street needs to be made one way between Front and York. It is the source of many messes each day

  • I got a stop sign ticket back in 2007 at york and main…haven’t seen a cop there since, of course! I agree on more stop sign citations…especially at front and jay..definitely changed how I drove around here!

  • I got a stop sign ticket back in 2007 at york and main…haven’t seen a cop there since, of course! I agree on more stop sign citations…especially at front and jay..definitely changed how I drove around here!

  • Stationing a cop at the York & Washington stop sign will generate some nice revenues for the city. When people approach that intersection they seem to lose all understanding of what a STOP sign signifies.

    They either dont stop at all or go two at a time and don’t let pedestrians and other vehicles take their turn. Its a miracle we don’t have more accidents there.

  • Stationing a cop at the York & Washington stop sign will generate some nice revenues for the city. When people approach that intersection they seem to lose all understanding of what a STOP sign signifies.

    They either dont stop at all or go two at a time and don’t let pedestrians and other vehicles take their turn. Its a miracle we don’t have more accidents there.

  • I think there needs to some changes made to the Stop sign at the intersection of Front & Bridge Street. There are trees blocking the Stop signs which are low and hard to see. On a number of occasions while driving down Bridge street which does not have a Stop sign at the intersection, the vehicle coming down Front street has blown through the Stop sign. It doesn’t look like its being done intentionally – I just think they can’t see the Stop signs. At this point, I’ve been stoping when i’m on bridge even though i’m not supposed to because I fear a T-bone is on the horizon. The Stop signs need to be more visible or there need to be signs put on Bridge street as well

  • I think there needs to some changes made to the Stop sign at the intersection of Front & Bridge Street. There are trees blocking the Stop signs which are low and hard to see. On a number of occasions while driving down Bridge street which does not have a Stop sign at the intersection, the vehicle coming down Front street has blown through the Stop sign. It doesn’t look like its being done intentionally – I just think they can’t see the Stop signs. At this point, I’ve been stoping when i’m on bridge even though i’m not supposed to because I fear a T-bone is on the horizon. The Stop signs need to be more visible or there need to be signs put on Bridge street as well

  • i almost get hit by a car on a daily basis at ANY intersection with a stop sign along Front. I called 311 about it a couple of months ago and received an email less than an hour later stating “NYPD has found no evidence of a violation.” Guess no one blew the stop sign outside Bridge Coffee Shop during their lunch break.

  • i almost get hit by a car on a daily basis at ANY intersection with a stop sign along Front. I called 311 about it a couple of months ago and received an email less than an hour later stating “NYPD has found no evidence of a violation.” Guess no one blew the stop sign outside Bridge Coffee Shop during their lunch break.

  • I live at JCondo and cars run the stop signs at Jay St. and Front St. ALL THE TIME. It doesn’t seem to matter that numerous pedestrians need to cross the street. A stop light or serious ticketing is needed, imo.

  • I live at JCondo and cars run the stop signs at Jay St. and Front St. ALL THE TIME. It doesn’t seem to matter that numerous pedestrians need to cross the street. A stop light or serious ticketing is needed, imo.

  • Some policing of the use of horns on Front St would be nice for residents too. A cab stops for 45 seconds to drop somebody off and three other cabs, limos or assorted idiots are on their horns immediately, day or night. A cop handing out the $500 tickets permitted by the city could take his annual wages in a single night.

  • Some policing of the use of horns on Front St would be nice for residents too. A cab stops for 45 seconds to drop somebody off and three other cabs, limos or assorted idiots are on their horns immediately, day or night. A cop handing out the $500 tickets permitted by the city could take his annual wages in a single night.