New Sign… Same Results

By on July 25, 2010 7:43 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Government, Lame Excuses, Transportation
 
New sign on Atlantic Ave./BQE on-ramp

New sign on Atlantic Ave./BQE on-ramp

In a moment of heat inspired insanity, yesterday I went out for a roll around the neighborhood and decided to go down to Pier 6.  It was my mission to check out whether any improvement had been made in the pedestrian crosswalk situation since it had been reported on BHB that DOT was aware of the problem and working on a solution. 

As I got to Atlantic Avenue, near the on-ramp, a taxi was barreling down – blasting his horn.  In the midst of this confusion, a man was running across the street/on-ramp carrying a small child.  This is almost exactly the scenario that causes my concern. 

While there is clearly a new sign, not one driver followed the new instructions and all operated their vehicles with the old sign in mind.  In the 15-20 minutes that I sat there making my surveillance, easily 50 tickets could have been issued.

In the distance I could see a police car and I headed in that direction.  I reported to the police officer that there was a new sign and what was going on.  Other than, “I will let the guys know” I did not get much of a response.  So, in addition to the dangerous condition we got to pay for a sign that is completely ignored and not enforced.

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  • http://cranberry's jimbo

    Hello Sign People,
    there are 12 different signs posted in this picture, have you ever followed up on your sign approval and see if its what you meant? And with all the tourist that visit and Nanny’s that take kids there, what if they don’t read english and what happens when
    one of these people rush to make a light that sez walk, because it sez walk, but another sign sign sez right turn permitted after stopping for light. Have you ever
    watched people roll through those signs, its a ny thing.

  • Big Dave

    Signs, signs, everywhere signs…

    You’re in your car, new to the area, and have ten seconds to pass through — where do you look?

    NYDOT’s posting idiocy is rivalling New Jersey.

  • skunky

    This will unfortunately continue until something tragic happens, then it will be rectified quickly. Until then, I go down Joralemon to Pier 6. If you’re coming from the other side, use Congress.

  • http://www.tksmall.com TK Small

    Unfortunately Joralemon is completely inaccessible to wheelchairs, between the lack of curb cuts and too many cobblestones.

  • Ari

    The easiest solution to this problem is the safest one.

    All pedestrian traffic should be forced to cross to the south side of Atlantic Avenue at Hicks Street. (They have these barriers in place in parts of midtown)

    They then can proceed along the south side of the avenue down to the waterfront. With the No Turn on Red recently implemented at the corner of Columbia Street at Atlantic, the danger of cars turning right on red and heading east on Atlantic is now eliminated.

    Pedestrians would then have re-cross (at the waterfront) to enter the park. This mild annoyance to visitors far outweighs the dangers of coming down the north side of Atlantic.

    There’s no way to remove one of the busiest entrances to one of the busiest highways in NYC. Forcing all traffic to yield to pedestrians will only increase the traffic woes in this area especially on weekends.

    People should not be allowed to cross a massive and major entrance to a highway, it dangerous for themselves and the cars/trucks.

    If everyone is forced to walk down the north side of Atlantic, the dangers are mitigated and pedestrian safety is at it’s best, given the circumstances.

  • Ari

    ^correction to the last line above.

    All pedestrians should be walking down the SOUTH side of Atlantic to avoid all of this. :)

  • tr

    Ari – I agreee with you. I have a minor correction:

    Pedestrians who use the south side of Atlantic do not actually have to re-cross Atlantic Ave. to enter the park. There is an entrance to the park on that side. Furthermore, since Atlantic dead-ends at the park entrance there really is no road to cross at that point anyway. There’s a sidewalk there.

    tr

  • T.K. Small

    tr – You are correct, but from the perspective of someone in a wheelchair, and that side of the street is almost impossible to navigate. After one crosses Colombia, the sidewalk along where the buses stop is very narrow and there appear to be some obstructions. Also, as I recall, curb cut at the end of the sidewalk is either nonexistent or in bad repair. I will try to get down there soon to confirm my memory.

  • tr

    T.K. – I bike that area all the time and the curb cut is in a terrible spot. To complicate things you have the bike path ending right there as well as the narrowing sidewalk, both of which has seen a large increase in stroller traffic since the park opened.

    Basically there is no good option for accessing the park – especially if you are in a wheelchair. For pedestrians, the south side of Atlantic is the best bet for now.