Comments on: DOT to Neighborhood: Your School’s in the Way of Our Highway http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/ Covering the New York City Streets Renaissance Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:07:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Hilary Kitasei http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/comment-page-1/#comment-11015 Hilary Kitasei Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:43:19 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/#comment-11015 We had an opportunity to run Rt. 9A underground here and create a park and narrow local street on top (which would have made the security of the World Trade Center easier as well.) It was killed by Battery Park City residents who didn't want the construction it would entail (and, I suspect, the elimination of a highway that serves as a moat keeping hordes from our glorious waterfront)and the coup de grace from Goldman Sachs, which threatened to abandon the site if there were to be a tunnel entrance at their front door (whose idea was it to put a financial headquarters on West Street??). I thought the logical entrance to the tunnel should have been just north of Chambers Street, which would have removed the highway from lower Manhattan altogether. We had an opportunity to run Rt. 9A underground here and create a park and narrow local street on top (which would have made the security of the World Trade Center easier as well.) It was killed by Battery Park City residents who didn’t want the construction it would entail (and, I suspect, the elimination of a highway that serves as a moat keeping hordes from our glorious waterfront)and the coup de grace from Goldman Sachs, which threatened to abandon the site if there were to be a tunnel entrance at their front door (whose idea was it to put a financial headquarters on West Street??). I thought the logical entrance to the tunnel should have been just north of Chambers Street, which would have removed the highway from lower Manhattan altogether.

]]> By: Glenn http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/comment-page-1/#comment-10979 Glenn Fri, 10 Nov 2006 13:24:19 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/#comment-10979 From a pedestrian perspective, turn lanes/lights don't make sense at all right now and conflict with the current pedestrian culture. It gives drivers an artificial "right of way" that does not seem logical to pedestrians. Pedestrians are not the slaves to the "Don't walk hand", but rather take cues from a variety of inputs like if the cars in their direction have a green light. This lack of standardization creates dangerous condition unless you can really create a new culture of just looking at the sign. The countdown timer would help change this. Either keep the status quo and don't worry about frustrating drivers. But if you change an intersection away from the standard, you need to give something back to pedestrians. A Barnes Dance with turn arrows might be a better balance. The timers would give pedestrians more incentive to only use that input instead of all the various inputs they use to making their decision to cross. From a pedestrian perspective, turn lanes/lights don’t make sense at all right now and conflict with the current pedestrian culture. It gives drivers an artificial “right of way” that does not seem logical to pedestrians. Pedestrians are not the slaves to the “Don’t walk hand”, but rather take cues from a variety of inputs like if the cars in their direction have a green light. This lack of standardization creates dangerous condition unless you can really create a new culture of just looking at the sign. The countdown timer would help change this.

Either keep the status quo and don’t worry about frustrating drivers. But if you change an intersection away from the standard, you need to give something back to pedestrians. A Barnes Dance with turn arrows might be a better balance. The timers would give pedestrians more incentive to only use that input instead of all the various inputs they use to making their decision to cross.

]]> By: someguy http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/comment-page-1/#comment-10978 someguy Fri, 10 Nov 2006 12:55:48 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/#comment-10978 Left turn bays are currently a fetish of the DOT brass. They tend to arbitrarily latch onto ideas they like and once obsessed cannot be dissuaded. Left turn bays are currently a fetish of the DOT brass. They tend to arbitrarily latch onto ideas they like and once obsessed cannot be dissuaded.

]]> By: Worried Mom http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/comment-page-1/#comment-10976 Worried Mom Fri, 10 Nov 2006 12:42:06 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/#comment-10976 How many children and pedestrians will need to be run over before someone puts an end to this madness? Iris Weinshall's comment is absolutely shocking and frustrating. The school is there, the hwy is there and so are THOUSANDS of people, including infants, toddlers, nannies, parents, grandparents, teens and adults. These are the facts. The variables are things that should relieve the situation not make it even more treacherous than it is today. Increasing the accident rate by 71% with proposed changes is irresponsible, deadly and completely unnacceptable. How many children and pedestrians will need to be run over before someone puts an end to this madness? Iris Weinshall’s comment is absolutely shocking and frustrating. The school is there, the hwy is there and so are THOUSANDS of people, including infants, toddlers, nannies, parents, grandparents, teens and adults. These are the facts. The variables are things that should relieve the situation not make it even more treacherous than it is today. Increasing the accident rate by 71% with proposed changes is irresponsible, deadly and completely unnacceptable.

]]> By: Lars http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/comment-page-1/#comment-10903 Lars Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:45:22 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/#comment-10903 Left turn lanes are popping up everywhere! Worst things for pedestrians, if anyone is serious about making our city more livable, we need to stop this insanity of placing them wherever DOT deems them necessary. Left turn lanes are popping up everywhere! Worst things for pedestrians, if anyone is serious about making our city more livable, we need to stop this insanity of placing them wherever DOT deems them necessary.

]]> By: Dan http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/comment-page-1/#comment-10896 Dan Fri, 10 Nov 2006 03:40:19 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/#comment-10896 >head explodes >head explodes

]]> By: Glenn http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/comment-page-1/#comment-10863 Glenn Thu, 09 Nov 2006 22:34:30 +0000 http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/09/dot-to-neighborhood-your-schools-in-the-way-of-our-highway/#comment-10863 She sounds frustrated. Join the club. She sounds frustrated. Join the club.

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