The following is an urgent call from Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors to implement a protected bike lane on Prospect Park West without delay as a way to stem dangerous speeding along that street.
One year after the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) announced plans to combat chronic speeding on Prospect Park West by narrowing the roadway from three travel lanes to two – replacing one travel lane with a protected bi-directional bike lane – work has yet to commence on the critical safety improvements, which had originally been planned for implementation beginning in September, 2009. Meanwhile, cars continue to hurtle down Prospect Park West at breakneck speed, in clear defiance of the legal speed limit.
Volunteers from Park Slope Neighbors on the first weekend of Spring followed up NYC DOT’s March 2009 field survey, with similar – and potentially even more dangerous – results. Last year’s DOT survey clocked 70% of cars exceeding the 30 mph speed limit, with 15% traveling 40 mph or faster. The PSN survey – conducted on March 20th and 21st, a weekend during which thousands of people on foot and on bicycles flocked to Prospect Park to take advantage of unseasonably warm weather – found 85% of cars exceeding the speed limit, with a startling 30% averaging 40 mph or more.
“What was true a year ago is even more true today,” said Eric McClure, campaign coordinator for Park Slope Neighbors. “Speeding poses a significant danger on Prospect Park West, something that NYC DOT has clearly recognized. On the occasion of tonight’s Prospect Park West Traffic Calming and Protected Bicycle Path Open House, we urge the city to begin implementing this critically needed project immediately.”
NYC DOT’s plan for Prospect Park West was endorsed by Brooklyn Community Board 6’s Transportation Committee last April, and approved by the full board in May. More than 1,300 people have signed a Park Slope Neighbors petition supporting implementation of a two-way, protected Class I bike lane. And 39th District City Council Member Brad Lander, whose district encompasses a long stretch of Prospect Park West, has been an outspoken proponent of the plan.
“It’s clear that the speeding problem on Prospect Park West isn’t going to improve without a complete redesign of the street,” said McClure. “And a two-way physically separated bike lane will provide an important and necessary link in the city’s bicycle network. We shouldn’t let the summer go by without implementing these important changes.”
The Prospect Park West Open House is being held tonight, Monday, April 12th, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at Temple Beth Elohim at 274 Garfield Place, between 8th Avenue and Prospect Park West. It’s being billed as an opportunity to learn about the proposed safety improvements, view design plans, and provide input to and discuss the plans with the project team. The Open House is being sponsored by NYC DOT, Community Board 6, and Council Members Lander and Steve Levin.
About the speed survey: the speed survey was conducted with an accurately calibrated hand-held radar gun at Prospect Park West and Garfield Place, on March 20th and 21st, 2010, in mid-afternoon, with a random sample of 251 vehicles. The median speed among the vehicles was 37 mph; the mean was 36.2 mph. Thirty percent of vehicles were timed at 40 mph or higher, and the top speed recorded was 53 mph. The posted speed limit on Prospect Park West is 30 mph.