Here is an email from Eric McClure, who runs Park Slope Neighbors about the traffic-calming plan on Prospect Park West. There will be a presentation at tonight’s Community Board 6 meeting. See details below.

In March of 2009, Park Slope Neighbors launched a campaign aimed at calming traffic on Prospect Park West, 8th Avenue and Union Street.  Some 1,300 people signed our petition supporting the campaign, and not long after we kicked off the effort, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) announced plans to implement a significant traffic-calming plan along Prospect Park West.

While it’s not everything we asked for, it’s a giant step in the right direction that will make Prospect Park West safer for all users.  Here’s the project summary from NYC DOT’s web site, and you can download a PDF version of the project plan by clicking here:

[Prospect Park West] currently is the site of chronic speeding which sometimes leads to injury-inducing crashes. The street is in a high bicycle use area, but does not have a bicycle facility, which can cause conflicts between cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles. This project will improve conditions for all users by installing a parking protected two-way bicycle path, removing one through travel lane and installing flush pedestrian refuge islands. This will enhance safety by creating shorter pedestrian crossings and reducing vehicle speeds. It will improve connectivity, mobility and safety by providing connections to existing bicycle lanes in Park Slope.

The need for traffic calming along Prospect Park West is clear.  A team of PSN volunteers armed with a radar gun staked out Prospect Park West during the weekend of March 20th and 21st, and we found that nearly a third of all vehicles were traveling at 40 mph or faster, with the average speed of all vehicles exceeding 36 mph.  The speed limit, of course, is 30 mph, but the extra-wide streetscape on PPW enables and encourages faster driving.

NYC DOT will be providing an update on the project (along with plans for some terrific improvements to the pedestrian, cyclist and driving environment within Grand Army Plaza) to a joint meeting of the Community Board 6 and Community Board 8 transportation committees tomorrow evening.  Here are the details:

Thursday, April 29 at 6:30 PM

Brooklyn Public Library – Central Branch
Grand Army Plaza
2nd Floor Meeting Room
6:30 PM

We urge you to attend the meeting for two reasons: first, it will be a great opportunity to learn more about the details of the Prospect Park West and grand Army Plaza projects, and to ask questions.  But just as important, those of us who want a safer, traffic-calmed neighborhood need to demonstrate support for the Prospect Park West project, since a small but determined group of opponents are doing their utmost to try to derail it.

Last week, two anonymous flyers were distributed along Prospect Park West, full of intentionally misleading “information.”  These bogus claims included:

•    warnings of the increased likelihood of accidents (not true: other city streets that have been traffic-calmed with protected bike paths, like 8th and 9th Avenues and Grand Street in Manhattan, have all experienced reductions in both pedestrian and cyclist injuries)

•    blaming the rerouting of the B69 bus on the addition of the protected bike path (not true: the bus is being rerouted due to MTA budget cuts)

•    adverse effects to emergency response and city services (not true: neither the NYPD, the Fire Department nor any other city agency has expressed any concern about effects on response or service delivery)

•    the absence of advance notification to the community (not true: those of you who’ve been receiving our newsletters for a while know that the Prospect Park West project was announced more than a year ago, with presentations to CB6’s transportation committee and the full Community Board, and there’s been ample coverage in local media.)

It’s a shame that people feel a need to resort to fear-mongering, especially when the goal of the project is, first and foremost, improving safety.  But people who don’t know the facts may be susceptible to this kind of hysteria, which is why we urge you to attend tomorrow’s meeting and express your support.

If you can’t make it to the meeting, please take action to support the project by contacting Community Board 6 and the offices of Council Members Brad Lander and Steve Levin.  Even though both Council Members support the plan, and CB6 voted to support it last year as well, it’s important that they hear from you.  A quick phone call or email is all it takes, and it will make a world of difference.  Here’s their contact information:

Community Board 6Phone: (718) 643-3027Email: info@brooklyncb6.org
Council Member Brad LanderPhone: (718) 499-1090Email: lander@council.nyc.gov
Council Member Steve LevinPhone (718) 875-5200Email: slevin@council.nyc.gov