Streetsblog New York City

This week's Observer is running a profile of DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. It focuses on the speed with which many of DOT's Sustainable Streets projects are moving ahead and seems to suggest either:

a) Improving conditions for New York City's pedestrians, cyclists and bus riders is a Communist plot. Or,
b) The change that Sadik-Khan is bringing to New York City's streets is akin to the Russian Revolution.

When DOT installed a leading pedestrian interval, or LPI, by a Lincoln Tunnel exit on 34th Street last month, nearby residents were thrilled. Cars turning onto 34th from Dyer Avenue -- a tunnel off-ramp -- had long posed a hazard to people in the crosswalk, leading Community Board 4 to request signal timing exclusively for pedestrians. At first DOT declined to take action, but after 300 people signed a petition in favor of the LPI, it was installed in a matter of days. Now pedestrians crossing 34th enjoy a luxurious 17 seconds during which they have the all-clear.

LPIs make pedestrians safer. The most widely cited study [PDF], released in 1999 by Michael King, former director of traffic calming at DOT and currently a principal at planning firm Nelson\Nygaard, found that LPIs reduce collisions between turning vehicles and pedestrians by 28 percent. Implemented throughout the city, LPIs could cut the number of pedestrians hit by cars by more than 500 each year, the report noted.

The new LPI at 34th and Dyer was a welcome improvement, but why the initial hesitation? After all, installing an LPI amounts to little more than flipping a switch, and costs next to nothing. Current DOT practice, however, requires time-consuming studies of individual intersections to determine whether an LPI is warranted. A different option, which Transportation Alternatives is now pushing, would make LPIs the default condition at the intersections where pedestrians face the greatest threat.

With more on DOT's Sustainable Streets plan, here's Transportation Alternatives' Paul Steely White on this morning's Brian Lehrer Show. Over the course of the 17 minute clip, White and Lehrer discuss parking policy, bike commuting and Bus Rapid Transit. Don't miss the Streetsblog plug.

Also this morning, Lehrer hosted New York Times reporter John Broder for a segment on the Clinton-Obama gas tax divide.

Let us pray. 

DOT revealed its "Sustainable Streets" strategic plan last night, in the very same room where the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign held its kick-off event a little more than two years ago. Once again, Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson was there. Here are excerpts from the presentation by Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who says that, rather than duplicate the livable streets efforts of cities like London, Paris and Copenhagen, her agency intends to implement "the New York City Model" of sustainable transportation and urban design.

Even so, one hears echoes of Danish planning superstar Jan Gehl when Sadik-Khan says DOT plans to "treat streets as valuable public places, rather than utilitarian corridors." Not that this is a bad thing.

The DOT today released its "Sustainable Streets" plan, an outline for bringing "a green approach" to transportation in the city by implementing safer, more equitable "world class streets policies." Of course state lawmakers took away the most powerful tool in the box by rejecting congestion pricing, so the agency is out of necessity focusing on measures within the city's control, like Bus Rapid Transit, bike lanes and installation of public plazas.

The report may be downloaded from the DOT web site. The "Benchmarks" section contains itemized lists of short- and long-term goals, including a couple of tantalizing bits about weekend bike-ped corridors and reducing car use in city parks.

Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan will preview the plan tonight at an invitation-only event. More details soon.