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Safety Improvements For Deadly UWS Intersection Announced Today
By
Marc Yearsley
Published May 13, 2014
Modified May 13, 2014
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David Torres
By
Marc Yearsley
Published May 13, 2014
Modified May 13, 2014
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Following February's proposals by the Department of Transportation to rehabilitate the deadly Upper West Side intersection at Broadway and West 96th Street, the DOT and members from City Council unveiled major pedestrian improvements today. Part of Mayor de Blasio's larger, $51.8 million Vision Zero plan, the changes include simplified signal timing, the elimination of two left turns at the intersection, more pedestrian space, and the addition of an entirely new crosswalk.
DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and others were on hand this morning to announce the project at the dangerous intersection, where 20 pedestrians have been injured between 2008-2012 and where two people, Alexander Shear and Samantha Lee, were killed in January. A third was killed a few blocks away.
The project had support from Community Board 7, and the DOT also announced that an 8.3 mile length of Broadway between West 59th and 220th Street will see its speed limit lowered to 25 miles per hour as an Arterial Slow Zone. "96th and Broadway has long been infamous as one of the most confusing and dangerous intersections in New York City," said Council Member Mark Levine. "Today marks an important step toward the implementation of Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero plan."
Pedestrian crossing distances will also be reduced via the crosswalk connection between the two median malls across West 96th. The intersection's signal phasing will be reduced from four to three phases, and the elimination of the two left turn lanes will hopefully reduce collisions between turning drivers and crossing pedestrians.
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