The long awaited and fiercely advocated-for safety improvements are finally coming to Atlantic Avenue, according to a report by Mary Frost in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
The neighborhood has seen horribly tragic accidents on Atlantic Avenue, the latest taking the life of Katherine Harris, 31, last year. Harris was crossing Atlantic Avenue at Clinton Street, when a drunk driver ran a red light and killed her. In 2013, the neighborhood was shocked when Martha Atwater, 48, a Brooklyn Heights Association board member, was killed when a driver jumped the curb and pinned her against a building as she exited a cafe at the northwest corner of Atlantic Avenue and Clinton Street.
Mouyassar Moustapha, 66, the owner of Oriental Pastry & Grocery and prominent member of the local Arab-American community, was struck and killed crossing Atlantic Avenue near Clinton Street in 2015. Moustapha wasn’t in the crosswalk at the time, but who hasn’t crossed Atlantic Avenue mid-block. The distances between the crosswalks are not pedestrian-friendly.
In addition to the pedestrian deaths, there have been roughly 500 vehicle collisions at the western section of Atlantic Avenue in the past 5 years. That’s an astonishing average of over 8 collisions per month. There have also been more than 90 pedestrian and 70 cyclist injuries during the same time period.
Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon at the podium, with Councilmember Lincoln Restler. Photo by Mary Frost for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Mary Frost covered the “bittersweet celebration” on Atlantic Avenue, where local electeds and advocates gathered, after the Department of Transportation announced that major fixes would be installed to make the street safer. Improvements will include signal changes, pedestrian islands, expanded mid-block crossings, curb enhancements, and the deployment of two full-time traffic enforcement agents. The last time the same folks gathered at that corner was to mourn Harris’s death, which “galvanized the community” to push harder for changes, according to Lincoln Restler.
Read more details about the celebration and the improvements to come in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Lead photo: Lara Birnback, Executive Director of Brooklyn Heights Association, by Mary Frost for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
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