Revised 4th Avenue Safety Plan Approved By Community Board 6

After rejecting the first set of plans in June, Community Board 6 voted to approve revised plans from the Department of Transportation for safety improvements along 4th Avenue at a hearing last night. Work is expected to begin in August.

Neighbors who spoke at the hearing were mostly in favor of the plan, according to a report from DNAInfo, which notes that many people were particularly concerned about the project’s impact on schools along the busy avenue. Those against the plan were concerned about traffic spilling over to quieter side streets.

The revised plan — you can see the presentation here — will include:

• Six left-turn bans, at 3rd Street (eastbound), 8th Street, 9th Street (eastbound), and 13th Street (two had been proposed for Degraw and Butler, but were removed).

• The street will stay at three lanes until Carroll St (instead of Union St, as previously proposed), south of which it will be two, wider lanes, with wider parking lanes.

• 5th St will get a painted curb extension on southeast corner to slow turns, and will add two speed humps (DNAInfo notes this was requested by the principal of MS51).

Some of the ways the DOT says this will improve conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers:

Better for Pedestrians
• Shortens 50 pedestrian crossings
• Adds 10 high visibility and 9 school crosswalks

Better for Drivers
• Reduces lane changes, slaloms, and interruptions
• Provides 2 lanes with integrity and with fewer conflicts
• Better organizes roadway to allow smoother traffic flow
• Less back-pressure for left turners from through vehicles
• Widens parking lane: safer to open drivers side car door

Safer for Cyclists
• Bike-friendly wide parking lanes

Better for Residents, Subway Riders, and School Safety
• Calms off-peak speeding, widens pedestrian refuges

It also allows for beautification opportunities on expanded pedestrian refuges. Everyone can at least agree that plants are nice, right?

Streetsblog notes in its report of the hearing that the question of bike lanes came up, since the elimination of a driving lane makes the parking lane 13 feet wide (versus the current 8-foot spaces), which would allow room for a standard 5-foot bike lane. But Streetstblog notes that, “Instead of discussing bike lanes, however, other board members were more concerned with accommodating double parking.”

For those looking for statistics, versions of the presentation that have been available for a while cull some crash data about 4th Avenue, noting that 53 people were killed or severely injured on this 1.4-mile stretch between 2007-2011. It ranks in the top 10% of Brooklyn corridors in people killed or severely injured per mile. The crash hotspots during that timeframe are:

• Atlantic Ave: 20 pedestrian injuries, 100 overall injuries

• Union St: 8 pedestrian injuries, 50 overall injuries

• 3rd St: 1 pedestrian injury, 53 overall injuries

• 9th St: 21 pedestrian injuries, 61 overall injuries

• 15th St: 1 pedestrian fatality, 17 overall injuries

The presentation also notes speeding data that was tracked from 9-11pm on weekdays, which found that two out of every three cars were travelling above the speed limit.

As noted, work on the plan is scheduled to begin later this summer. CB6 approved the plan 21-3, but with the condition that the plan be re-evaluated after a year to see how it’s worked.