Department of Transportation Addressing Pedestrian Safety for Dumbo’s Streets

The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) presented a plan to the Brooklyn Community Board 2 Transportation Committee on January 20, 2015 that proposes several updates to streets in Dumbo on 5 key street corners and sidewalk areas. As a result of a community walk-through organized by the Dumbo BID, DOT has developed this proposal to calm traffic, improve pedestrian safety, and improve pedestrian and bicycle access in the Dumbo neighborhood. The proposal fills gaps in the pedestrian network with new sidewalks and pedestrian spaces at underutilized roadbed locations, and accessible crossings. A two-way bicycle facility is also proposed on Jay Street.

The Community Board 2 Transportation Committee unanimously (with one abstention, 11-0-1) recommended that Community Board 2 support pedestrian safety improvements proposed by the DOT two weeks ago.

Streetsblog NYC reported that the DUMBO Improvement District director of marketing and events Kristin LaBuz attended the meeting, where the plan advanced to the full board in an 11-0 vote. “Though there is still much work to be done in the neighborhood,” she said, “we’re thrilled by DOT’s responsiveness to community concerns.”

The five areas for improvement are as follows:

  1. York St and Washington St: build concrete sidewalk extension, mark parking lanes and bike route, and potentially add parking to the south curb.

    dot_york_wash

  2. Pearl St and Front St: build concrete neckdown and granite paver crosswalk

    dot_front_pearl

  3. Pearl St and York St: build large concrete triangle island and painted pedestrian space, with two granite paver crosswalks

    dot_york_pearl

  4. Jay St and Prospect St: build large curb extension on NE corner and neckdowns on NW and SE corners, mark crosswalk on the north leg. Potentially add parking along new concrete.

    dot_jay_prospect

  5. Jay St Corridor: mark contraflow bicycle lane between Prospect St and York St, mark two way shared lane between York St and John St.

    dot_jay_yorkjohn

    dot_jay_prospectyork

In addition to the added safety for pedestrians and cyclists, the proposal adds approximately 15 parking spaces. DOT plans to begin construction on the project in August 2015.

DOT’s presentation to the Brooklyn Community Board 2 Transportation Committee (PDF)

2 Comment

  • How about stop signs? how about the fact that my family has almost been hit by cars 3x crossing adams/york and also front/adams? while this plan is nice… simple stop signs would make a world of difference for safety in dumbo. can we address that DOT?

  • Stop signs on York Street at Adams are crucial. Also the Front St / Adams St intersection is very bad for pedestrians.