In the latest e-newsletter from Park Slope Neighbors, there's a good description of the DOT's plans to change Prospect Park West into two way vehicle traffic and a two-lane bike lane.
The redesign will reduce Prospect Park West from three travel
lanes to two, which should go a long way in mitigating the speeding
problem on PPW, and will add a two-way, physically separated bike lane
with a four-foot buffer between the parkside parking lane and the
sidewalk. The changes will also mean shorter, easier, safer
pedestrian crossings. I submitted a report on the plan and the
meeting to Streetsblog with
all the details, which you can read here:
lanes to two, which should go a long way in mitigating the speeding
problem on PPW, and will add a two-way, physically separated bike lane
with a four-foot buffer between the parkside parking lane and the
sidewalk. The changes will also mean shorter, easier, safer
pedestrian crossings. I submitted a report on the plan and the
meeting to Streetsblog with
all the details, which you can read here:
While the group views this proposal as "a big win for safer, calmer Park Slope" they support a different plan.
While we heartily applaud DOT for taking major steps to address
the traffic problems on Prospect Park West and 3rd Street, and for the
plan for a great new Class I bike lane, the announced changes still
come up well short of what the 1,200 of you who have signed our
PPW/8th Avenue/Union Street traffic-calming petition have asked for.
While speeding has been worse on PPW than on 8th Avenue, 8th
has been the scene of recent fatal and near-fatal accidents, and the
intersection of 8th Avenue and Union Street is plagued by dangerous
crosswalk-blocking day in and day out.
the traffic problems on Prospect Park West and 3rd Street, and for the
plan for a great new Class I bike lane, the announced changes still
come up well short of what the 1,200 of you who have signed our
PPW/8th Avenue/Union Street traffic-calming petition have asked for.
While speeding has been worse on PPW than on 8th Avenue, 8th
has been the scene of recent fatal and near-fatal accidents, and the
intersection of 8th Avenue and Union Street is plagued by dangerous
crosswalk-blocking day in and day out.
For these reasons, Park Slope Neighbors plans to continue our
campaign seeking the conversion of Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue
to two-way traffic flow. If you haven't done so already, please
help us keep the pressure on DOT by signing our electronic
petition:
http://www.parkslopeneighbors.org/two_way_pet.htm
campaign seeking the conversion of Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue
to two-way traffic flow. If you haven't done so already, please
help us keep the pressure on DOT by signing our electronic
petition:
http://www.parkslopeneighbors.org/two_way_pet.htm
I was at that Community Board 6 meeting on April 16th when Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors asked the representative from the DOT whether they would consider two-way traffic flow on Prospect Park West. The representative said that no plan for that was on the table and that he thought that adding another "input" to Grand Army Plaza would only complicate traffic flow over there.
I completely agree with Norman. Turning 8th Avenue and PPW into 2-lane roads will make more of a mess.
And how about the noise issue? Come rush hour my corner (Union and 8th Avenue) becomes so loud with honking that I cannot hear the client on the other end of my phone.
With a two lane road, the traffic will now flow at all, making rush hour commuters even angrier.
Has anyone thought of timing the traffic lights more efficiently so that these drivers don’t sit as long at the lights and become irritable?
The whole point of turning it 2-way is to reduce traffic speeds and thru-flow. 2-way streets are more ped-friedly, and better for the aesthetic environment.
Yes, people won’t give up their cars. Voluntarily. But they will drive less if there’s more congestion. The only way to reduce dependence on cars is to make it less pleasing to drive. And 1-way streets encourage driving (that’s why they were created in the first place by flow-obsessed traffic engineers.)
As a longtime resident of Park Slope and a car owner with plenty of experience with Park Slope congestion, I can say turning PPW and 8th Ave two ways is a terrible idea that will lead to further congestion, especially with the addition of bike lanes. The simple fact is you cannot reduce the square footage alloted to traffic and assume it will ease congestion, I really don’t understand why people don’t get that? People end up getting frustrated and driving in the bike lanes anyway.
Can anyone explain why having two major avenues run in opposite directions is a bad idea? And I don’t buy the speeding argument, that’s just the usual Park Slope hysteria based on no evidence, traffic is almost always within the speed limit on both roadways from my experience. And you can’t have congestion and speeding, which complaint is it?
The problem at 8th and Union is the timing of the traffic light at Grand Army, it’s not some complicated mystery.
This is from the same community board and DOT that installed parking meters all the way down 7th ave at the request of the business community. What does that do? More people driving around looking for spots that will be good throughout the day, more congestion, more emissions.
People will not give up their cars, and with the influx of residents to the abundant luxury condo McMansions the number of cars will only increase. This cannot be nanny-legislated away with the usual “What about the children?!” over zealousness.
Making PPW and 8th Avenues two-way would really help alleviate the bottleneck at 8th and Union.
Why isn’t DOT doing ANYTHING to fix that problem? These streets are broken. They need to be fixed.