Posted to Communal Matters, Crown Heights News on

DOT Plans to Restrict Right Turns Off Eastern Parkway

About two weeks ago, representatives from the New York City Department of Transportation met with Community Board 9 to present a proposal for the restructuring Eastern Parkway, whereby right turns from the parkways’ central lanes onto side streets will be severely restricted.

The alleged purpose of this change would be to enhance the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists on the parkway’s medians, but opponents worry that these changes will further exacerbate the traffic problems already plaguing Crown Heights’ main artery.

One community board member who was at the meeting told CrownHeights.info that he felt that the DOT’s presentation was just for show, and that the members’ thoughts on the subject didn’t matter. He said committee members requested that engineers from the DOT meet with them to discuss possible alternatives, but these requests fell on deaf ears.

“I feel that the city is heavily favoring the newcomers to our community, who are more likely to be riding bicycles, and completely ignoring the longtime residents of the neighborhood, for whom traffic congestion is a serious issue,” an attendee at the meeting said.

CrownHeights.info has obtained a copy of the PowerPoint presented by the DOT on the proposal, which we share with our readers below.

Click here to view in PDF format.

Click on images below to enlarge

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30 Comments

  • didnt look 1st

    existing no turns on Utica not. now no turns on Rochester means traffic passing through all side streets, to get to Utica avenue.

  • more restrictions?

    so which streets exactly are they talking about?
    anyone for moving out of the city where you can actually live?

  • ticket city

    so now stressful ticket city will have more revenue for the sick mayor to earmark for more of his insane values.

  • 2 QUESTIONS!

    1) I THINK IT IS VERY CONFUSING, DOES ANYONE ELSE THINK SO ??
    2) I DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING THAT THEY ARE WRITING OR SAYING, DOES ANYONE ELSE UNDERSTAND ANYTHING THAT THEY ARE WRITING OR SAYING ??

    • Eli

      The slides presented are very clear, and, IMHO, a great step in the right direction.
      The article itself is very biased against this initiative, which is unbecoming.
      As to your YELLING: now THAT is something I don’t understand. (or why you ask the same question twice).

  • morris

    The proposal looks very reasonable, and much more predictable for both pedestrians and drivers.
    Bedford Ave. intersection is really terrible, it is about time it came into the 21st century. Right now it is almost like an intersection in Bombay.
    As for the claim that this is being done to generate ticket revenue, that is unlikely, since traffic accidents have a high cost the to city.

  • seriously

    these changes should be made

    3 lanes on eastern parkway in both directions

    all avenues leading to eastern parkway should have 2 lanes

    get rid of all bike lanes from most avenues

    the people driving are the ones paying taxes they should be able to get to work

    • Shmuli

      check you facts please.
      Less than 50% of Brooklyn residents own a car.
      We all work and pay taxes, we all pay for the roads, regardless if you drive a car or not.
      Bike lanes serve as great cheaper alternative to help with the growing community that can’t sustain more cars on the road.
      On top of that less cars means more livable and safer streets.

  • This is Stupid

    Instead of installing traffic lights (where there are currently stop signs), they want to impose restrictions on turning due to “safety” reasons.

    Idiot DeBlasio.

    • Mendy

      Don’t know about your entire comment, but the end (“idiot deblasio”) is true, and further more he’s a sick corrupt official who supports terrorists, and belongs in jail

  • Ch resident

    There needs to be a safer way for pedestrians to cross.

    Try crossing on eastern parkway you will see 9 times out of ten you will end up bentching Gomel.

    This is the best news I heard.

    I hope on eastern parkway and Brooklyn they will do this too.

    Keep up your great work providing safe streets for our families and children.

  • No Brains

    A lot of the accidents and issues are caused by the DOT creating traffic patterns that just don’t make sense. Take Grand Army Plaza for example. The way the lights are sequenced, there’s always grid lock traffic built up there. Or Albany and EP light, where one side stays green while the other turns red!!! this creates confusion and pedestrians start to walk into oncoming traffic (it would make a lot more sense to START the green on west bound side first)

    I believe that the issues can be resolved by having the people who are in charge drive through this way for at least a week before changing anything.

  • Joe

    Many points seem good.

    The stop signs and lack of walk signal is a major issue for kids going to ohlei torah.

    Also the lack of crosswalk on both sides of tbe islands is an issue. In thoery one can say that you do not need both islands, perhaps they should make one island in the center and then merge the service lanes with regular lanes. And make the turning lanes into a mini island like in Manhattan with parking and openings for turning.

  • THIS IS CRAZY

    I honestly am completely surprised, how on earth is this solving an issue? Traffic will become ten times worse! Im completely annoyed at this change, and i hope this does NOT go into effect any time soon.

  • Yossi A

    Rubber islands!!!!!
    HA HA HA. Just in time to rip them out for the labor day parade!!!!

  • Picaboo Shimon

    They should instead build pedestrian bridges so bicycles and people can cross fifteen feet above car traffic and never be risking a pedestrian accidentally getting hit by a car whilst crossing.

  • Resident

    Great initiative to help the yuppies to be safer on their bikes .BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RESIDENTS THAT LIVE HERE AND USE CARS TO SHUTTLE THEIR CHILDREN ????????????????

    Welcome hipsters , where we just make life better and better for you but harder for us who lived here for so long, we cant buy, cant rent and soon cant drive ,,,,,

    • Adrian

      You’re welcome to ride a bike, too. It’s inexpensive so anyone can do it unless one is handicapped.

  • "Zero Vision" Plan

    Thank you Mr. Mayor for your “zero vision” plan that brought Brooklyn to a standstill. You created a traffic nightmare in this city. When your term ends in November, your legacy will be recorded as the mayor with zero vision. Congrats on a terrible job!!

  • Out of towner

    I agree with CH Resident. 1 person’s life(how much more so when we are talking about 1000’s of lives) is worth any inconvenience of motorists. A biker& pedestrian are in constant danger. I am an out of towner and see this even where I live. Although B”H most drivers are not as aggressive as NY drivers.

  • Customer for way back

    How about no phones texting or talking while you are crossing a street. Any street!

  • Josh L

    After their whole Power Point and cherry picked facts the simplest solution, before they start cutting out options for drivers all over, is to simply put in stop lights on all the intersections with Stop signs and install walk/dont walk signals which are missing all along EP.

    Also in terms of banning turns at Rochester, they are ignoring the fact that turns are already banned at Utica so drivers are stuck for blocks on end with no turns available. Plus, if you are headed east, after Rochester is the park so by the time you turn on Buffalo you would need to go all the way down to E NY Ave before you can come back around.

  • The main problem

    Is Bikers drive even on EP in the side lane with the lines. Bikers cause problems all over. THEY drive in hundreds of streets with ZERO BIKE LANES.

    Why dont they ticket BIKERS for driving in car lanes and we cant drive in bike lanes?

  • hopeful

    Why wouldn’t they consider putting up turning signal lights ? Like Eastern Prkwy and Brooklyn Ave. Those work very well, to my knowledge.

  • Grateful we left

    California has right turn on red. It works because the pedestrian has the right of way. Drivers are courteous and stop for pedestrians even in parking lots. Cars wait for the other car and wave drivers to go first. Welcome to civilization.

  • Alicia

    I sat at the meeting of CB9 when DOT did the presentation and the main issue was stopping traffic from making right turns on one way streets.

    This will force all of these cars onto the service road, which is tight and always has a car dropping off people or waiting for people and of course the garbage pickups!

    DOT didn’t test for this condition (the redirected flow of traffic onto the service roads), and when using their safety data, they used five years ago stuff, which in no way reflects all of the changes which have occurred.

    The presentation was suppose to allow residents to make comments and suggestions, but in fact it we were told that they had no intention of changing this proposal despite residents input.

    Additionally DOT stated that they were aware of the opposition to this proposal was going to have, but insisted they were going to do it anyway.

    So much for Community Input!