Posted by: Joe Filippazzo | February 22, 2008

Safety Considerations Derail ‘Green’ Plan for Gerritsen Beach’s Main Road

This article appeared in the 25 February issue of The Brooklyn Eagle.

Residents of Gerritsen Beach derailed an $800,000 plan last week that would have remodeled their neighborhood’s main access road with a Greenstreets median.

Most insisted that the only answer to the area’s safety concerns is a single traffic signal — a $160,000 project that has been repeatedly rejected by the city for over 30 years.

Read the whole story…

State Senator Marty Golden feilds questions from Gerritsen Beach residents, Feb. 13, 2008.State Senator Marty Golden feilds questions from Gerritsen Beach residents, Feb. 13, 2008.

Posted in Reporting | Tags: , , , ,

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Responses

The residents’ response to this kind of proposal is common. Planners have learned that for any innovative proposal to be accepted by the community it has to be preceded by a series of meetings where residents can learn about the concepts (traffic calming, greenstreets). The mtgs. generally expose the people to successful projects and eventually, with guidance, they should be allowed to pick and choose what they want for their streets.

Somebody needs to set them straight that signal control for intersection is not a safe option. Actually, they only need to observe for just a few minutes, their nearest traffic light intersection to confirm (red/yellow running, speed to make green, yellow, red, no-stop right turns etc.)

Seattle has retrofitted over 600 of its signal/stop controlled intersections with mini-circles and roundabouts and crashes have been reduced by 90%, traffic slowed (calmed) and aesthetics improved dramatically.

Residents need to educate themselves also, as in most cases, engineers/public officials won’t propose innovative solutions people have to ask for them.
check out links: also google traffic calming
http://www.ite.org/traffic/tcdevices.htm
http://www.roundabouts.net/roundabouts.html
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=gcbdc&c=dfjdc
Portland combines traffic calming, stormwater management with street beautification-see link below
http://www.portlandonline.com/BES/index.cfm?c=eeeah

By: Larry Shaeffer on February 23, 2008
at 4:46 pm

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