Last week, Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, local elected officials and community leaders gathered on Delancey Street to celebrate the new safety improvements implemented during the past several months. During a midday news conference, with trucks and cars roaring past television cameras, Sadik-Khan declared, “crossing Delancey should not be just for the brave of heart,” and she promised an “unrelenting focus on safety” on the street as well as throughout the city.
Among those attending the press event was Teresa Pedroza, whose granddaughter, 12-year old Dashane Santana, was killed at the intersection of Delancey and Clinton streets earlier this year. City officials were already looking at changing traffic patterns along the deadly corridor before the tragedy but the accident served as an impetus for the improvements. State Senator Daniel Squadron said, “nothing will bring Dashane back… but hopefully because of this (accident) we can ensure that there are no more tragedies on Delancey Street.”
The officials staged the news conference in the middle of a new 14,000 square foot pedestrian plaza. Planters, tables and chairs have been added to a large area on the south side of Delancey west of Clinton Street. The DOT was able to access federal transportation funds to pay for the work. Future improvements will be funded by the LES Business Improvement District, which is responsible for maintaining the plazas.
In the months ahead, the BID will be looking at adding one or more food vendors to the plaza, and possibly scheduling some cultural or other community-oriented events. They’ll be working with Community Board 3 to solicit feedback from local residents. The big question, of course, is this: will people really want to hang out on Delancey Street, one of the busiest corridors in the city? It will likely be next spring before the concession program begins.
Perhaps the NYPD could start enforcing traffic laws on Delancey as well?
That topic came up. See here:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/09/27/in-wake-of-traffic-fatality-spike-officials-tout-safer-delancey-street/
Cool but have you seen the traffic now on Chrystie St between Houston and Allen? Ever since you can’t make a left on Essex to the bridge it’s a crawl!
Well I got a ticket turning left on Crystie from the right lane the other day. Boo. Always used to turn from that lane, so somebody is at work.
The DOT did a great job considering the challenges. Of course, the best solution would be to divert traffic below Delancey through where some people want to see the “low line”. That would convert a stretch of Delancey into a park where it would be much nicer to sit than underground with the rats, sunlight funnels or not.
That would cost a lot of money though.
The left from southbound Essex to Delancey has long been prohibited at peak times. The only change at that intersection is to prohibit left turns at non-peak times as well.
Also, it’s not like you can’t get from southbound Essex to Delancey. You just have to go to Broome and come back up Norfolk. I find it hard to believe that people are suddenly choosing to jam up Chrystie rather than go one extra block out of their way at off-peak times.
The newly added no left turn from Essex to Delancey shows the outrageously poor planning taking place. Increased traffic on Ludlow is 10 times what it used to be and it is accompanied with more loud trucks and lots more honking. It was a stupid decision to move the four lane Essex traffic onto Ludlow.