New Enhanced Crosswalks are Coming to Columbia Street

Community Board 6 met on Dec. 12 for their monthly general board meeting, held at the Cobble Hill Health Center (380 Henry Street), with much to discuss and vote on.
CB6 members approved Department of Transportation (DOT)’s proposal to implement pedestrian safety improvements for Columbia Street from West 9th Street to Luquer Street. This follows requests from P.S. 676 Red Hook Neighborhood School and Summit Academy Charter School to DOT and DOT’s presentation at the CB6

Transportation/Public Safety Committee meeting on Nov. 15. According to their presentation slides, “The distance between existing signalized pedestrian crossings on Columbia Street is 1,100 feet.” DOT also determined that there were 13 total injuries between Luquer and West 9th from 2012 to 2016 — four involved pedestrians and nine involved passengers inside motor vehicles.

DOT has collected data since May 2018 and conducted a study of four intersections on Columbia Street — Luquer/Commerce, Nelson, Huntington, and Verona Streets — for a traffic signal or an all-way stop sign. Though they ultimately determined that none passed federal guidelines for traffic signalization (based on pedestrian and vehicle volumes), Nelson and Luquer Streets did meet city guidelines for enhanced uncontrolled crossings with new ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps.

As a result, two high-visibility crosswalks at these two intersections will be painted and pedestrian warning signage will be added. Fifteen-foot approaches, which will remove three parking spots (one at Verona Street and two at Commerce Street), will be installed to improve visibility. The existing pedestrian triangle at Nelson and Delavan Streets — near P.S. 676 and Summit Academy — will also be updated and expanded, which will allow for easier crossing for students, slower, safer turns and predictable vehicle movements.

Eric McClure, co-chair of the Transportation Committee, said that there are still traffic signal and all-way stop studies pending at Hicks and Huntington Streets and a study pending for speed bumps near P.S. 676. The presentation, which can be viewed online at nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/columbia-st-nov2018.pdf, doesn’t list a proposed timeline or budget. Questions and concerns about the project can be directed toward DOT Brooklyn Borough Commissioner’s Office at 646-892-1350.

In other news, CB6 members in attendance also voted for the new CB6 Board Chair, choosing either current chairperson Sayar Lonial or longtime Landmarks & Land Use Co-Chair Peter Fleming. Lonial and Fleming each made candidacy speeches before the board members cast their ballots.

“It’s critically important that, while we ultimately speak with one voice, that one voice should be made up of many voices,” Fleming said during his speech. “That’s one of the things I would like to see, as chair — that more voices get heard and that more of their opinions become part of what we ultimately say.”

Fleming, who has been a CB6 member for nearly 25 years, received the most votes. Lonial served as chairperson for nearly three years, since taking the position in Feb. 2016.

The first general board meeting for the 2019 calendar year will take place on Jan. 9, 6:30 pm, in New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital’s auditorium (506 6th Street).

George Fiala

George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.