This evening the Department of Transportation will formally unveil its plan to improve safety on Delancey Street. This afternoon, the neighborhood’s elected officials have come out with a press release praising that plan.
They noted:
The new DOT safety plan will include a number of improvements: widened sidewalks and shortened crosswalks at intersections along Delancey; changes to turning patterns; analysis and lengthening of traffic signals; and continued comprehensive review of the corridor.
In the aftermath of several fatal accidents, State Senator Daniel Squadron convened the “Delancey Street Working Group,” a panel of neighborhood stakeholders who advised the DOT on possible steps to improve dangerous conditions along the busy corridor. Today Squadron said:
Because we worked together, Delancey will be dramatically safer within months, not years. Shorter crosswalks, revised traffic signals, and a plan to improve traffic flow throughout the corridor have the potential to improve Delancey for all who use it.. Of course this is not the entire solution, and we must continue to study and improve Delancey and the surrounding streets to prevent future tragedies and ensure the safety of all users. DOT deserves great credit for recognizing the crisis on Delancey and working with us to quickly make these important changes.
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver added:
This plan will help address the long-term safety needs of our community, so that tragedies like the death of Dashane Santana will not have been in vain… These are important steps towards improving safety conditions for pedestrians on Delancey Street and throughout my community. I am encouraged that the DOT is looking to shorten crossing times, widen sidewalks and improve traffic patterns. Until these changes are implemented, I once again call on the DOT to post pedestrian managers to better help the flow of foot traffic across these dangerous intersections.
And City Councilmember Margaret Chin had this to say:
I want to thank the DOT for bringing forward a plan that can be swiftly and efficiently implemented to improve safety on Delancey Street… This multipronged approach will address pedestrian safety, congestion, and traffic flow on the Delancey corridor. I urge the Community Board to review, comment, and support this plan to institute meaningful change on Delancey Street.
The DOT will present the full plan this evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Seward Park Co-op Community Room, 264 East Broadway.
