DOT putting stickers on their parking signs

Two Department of Transportation employees have a pretty repetitive job right now.

They were seen today outside our office putting stickers on parking signs, changing 'HR METER PARKING' to 'HR MUNI-METER PARKING.'

Stickers!

Thank goodness they hopped right on this, because I for one would have been even more confused than the signs already make me.

To the DOT's credit, at least they're saving money by not replacing the entire sign.

R.I.P.

The DOT is replacing every single-space meter in the city right now, saying the muni-meter's are better because they offer more parking spaces (Unless they don't know how to pull up to the car in front of them!), you can pay for parking with a credit card or dollar bills and not just quarters, they break less and are less expensive to maintain.

'Slow Zones' latest DOT measure to curb speeders

Here's the story from this week's Bronx Press that explains the new 'slow zone' that will be coming to more neighborhoods throughout the city. A Riverdale elected official has already said that he wants to bring the zone to part of his district, which you can read about here.

By Brendan McHugh 

Those with a lead foot are about to find it much more difficult to drive through the city. 

Slow zones create 20 mph
speed limits throughout a neighborhood.

The Department of Transportation began the city’s first-ever Neighborhood Slow Zone on Monday, reducing the local speed limit in Claremont from 30 mph to 20 mph and adding certain traffic calming measures.

Chosen because of the neighborhoods high accident and fatality rate, Claremont is getting nine new speed bumps in addition to the five already present, and other traffic calming measures such as signage and street markings are being added to the roads. 

Signs posting the 20 mph speed limit are at 14 entranceways to the quarter-square mile zone. Also, 14 more speed limit signs are post throughout the neighborhood and stencil speed limits on the street itself are in 45 different places.

Jump below for the full story.

New answer for school traffic woes?

A story from this week's Riverdale Review. There is a similar story in a separate post that fully explains the 'slow zone' practice that debuted in Claremont this week.

By Brendan McHugh 

Last month, elected officials requested slower speed limits, new signage and speed bumps for the area around PS 24 and MS/HS 141. 

Turns out, the City has a new program that can do just that. 

On Monday, the Department of Transportation announced its first-ever Neighborhood Slow Zone in Claremont. The slow zone reduces the speed limit in the quarter-square mile neighborhood from 30 mph to 20 mph, adds nine new speed bumps and over 50 new signs—both on poles and stenciled onto the street—to the area alerting drivers of the speed limit. 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, one of three legislators who wrote to DOT in October, says Independence Avenue is a model candidate for the new traffic safety program. 

“Given the area’s proximity to several schools, a public library, and houses of worship, I believe this stretch of Independence Avenue would be an ideal location for a Neighborhood Slow Zone,” he wrote in a letter to DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan earlier this week. 

Jump below for the full story.

Street renaming sought for Frank Durkan

Here's a story from this week's Riverdale Review.

By Brendan McHugh 

An Irish name may be added on to Tibbett Avenue. 

The traffic and transportation committee of Community Board 8 unanimously voted in favor of adding ‘Frank Durkan Way’ to Tibbett Avenue between 240th and 238th streets, adjacent to Gaelic Park. 

Over a dozen people came to last week’s meeting to share an antidote about Frank Durkan’s sincerity and commitment to Gaelic Park and the Irish community, and dozens of other people and organizations sent letters. 

“He died a rich man in his heart,” said Martin Lyons, a longtime friend of Durkan’s and the organizer of the effort.

Frank Durkan Way wouldn’t become the actual name of the street; that would remain Tibbett Avenue. The new street name would be an honorary distinction only.

Jump below for the full story.

Walking around Riverdale is safe

And not just because of the low crime numbers.

From 1995 to 2009, there were 8,604 motor-vehicle crashes involving pedestrians in the 42 blocks that make up Manhattan Community District 5. In Bronx District 8 (Riverdale, Fieldston, Marble Hill, Van Cortlandt Village, Kingsbridge) during the same period, only 788 crashes occurred; less than 10 percent of Manhattan's District 5, which is Midtown.

The data comes from Transportation Alternatives new interactive map, CrashStat.

The only area that is considered safer than Riverdale is the South Shore of Staten Island (Community District 3) with 653 crashes.

 

The city's Department of Transportation disputes these findings, however (even the good ones). A spokesman points out to Crains New York that reporting the 15-year neighborhood-by-neighborhood totals misses an important point—the decline in injuries and fatalities over the period:

"Safety has actually increased and nowhere is this more evident than in places like Manhattan Community District 5, where fatalities and serious injuries were down 54% from 1995 to 2009; and in Brooklyn Community District 14, where fatalities and injuries down 65% from 1995 to 2009."

Citywide, pedestrian traffic fatalities have dropped 37% from 1995 to 2009.

Transportation Alternatives has called for stricter enforcement of traffic laws by the New York City Police Department, saying that the department should pursue harsher punishments, deploy more traffic cops and more rigorously enforce the 30 mph speed limit.

Jump below for the rest of the story.

Tappan Zee Bridge reconstruction fast-tracked

The Tappan Zee Bridge has been tapped for a speedy review and approval process, which will allow reconstruction of the bridge to begin much sooner than previously thought.

President Barack Obama has green-lighted New York State's request, and with the expedited federal review of the Environmental Impact Statement and the processing of certain permits, the Tappan Zee project could begin as early as next year.

“This is a shot in the arm for the project and a major step forward to restoring this key piece of our infrastructure and putting tens of thousands of New Yorkers back to work,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

According to the Presidential memorandum, “improved coordination among multiple federal agencies will reduce the time needed to proceed from a Draft Environmental Impact Statement to a Record of Decision, potentially reducing the project timeline by multiple years.”

Rep. Eliot Engel, who applauded the president for his actions, says that serious damage to the bridge would be horrendous for the tri-state area.

Jump below for the full story, including information as to when public meetings will be held to discuss the $5.2 billion project's details.