Cobble Hill Blog

Comment from Sam Shyne
Time: August 24, 2009, 9:03 am

I saw this yesterday - what exactly is the purpose of it?

Comment from Neighbor Hood
Time: August 24, 2009, 9:48 am

Looks like another example of Bloomberg and his Transportation Queen purposely engineering traffic bottlenecks through out the city. They systematically take lanes away from autos in favor of poorly thought out, sometimes dangerous and underused bike lanes, bus boarding islands and lanes(notice Bwy downtown is literally ONE lane now during rush hour for normal traffic) etc, then claim that we have an exploding congestion problem that can only be addressed by a tolls and congestion pricing.
When will NYers finally have enough of this?

Comment from contempt
Time: August 24, 2009, 11:26 am

I saw some of these on Sackett/Hicks. On that corner, I could see the indent is for parking; however, the last two ‘parking spots’ have a fire hydrant next to it. A bit pointless, eh? And how much does each of these cost to install? I’m sure there are better uses for those funds such as repainting crosswalks so cars don’t idle over them, stuff like that which would really help the neighborhood.

Comment from bigmissfrenchie
Time: August 24, 2009, 1:27 pm

The only reason I can think of for this being done is to prevent people from peeling out at the light and passing the person in front of them. They also widened the sidewalk on Bond and Atlantic, and there was no “Underused bike lane” as Neighbor Hood so charmingly calls them, or bus stop involved. And this NYer will finally have enough of this when people stop using their cars unnecessarily. It is ridiculous that people think it’s okay to drive to work because they don’t like the subway, or drive 3 blocks to a grocery store. If you like to drive so much, you should live in the suburbs, not in a congested urban environment.

Comment from abused on mass transit
Time: August 24, 2009, 3:38 pm

I stop taking ferry or any mta from S.I. after being assualted for no reason on the boat and teens having nothing better to do but start problems. You take public trans and I’ll continue to drive. I feel safer that way.

Comment from Relax
Time: August 24, 2009, 3:54 pm

Relax folks–this is part of a “traffic calming” project by the NYC Dept of Transportation. I believe it is called curb extensions or goose necking, which gives the actual and optical effect of a narrow street, which gets cars to slow down and not use Bergen St as a speed raceway. While you may disagree, studies have shown that this works and there are many other innovative traffic ideas being implemented by the NYC DOT (credit goes to the new commissioner). Here is a link to an advocacy group: http://www.transalt.org/resources/dbtc and see page 9 of this report, which goes into greater detail: http://www.transalt.org/files/resources/streets4people/streets4people.pdf. If you’re familiar with Bergen St., you’ll know how fast drivers can go as they head towards Court St. Not a big issue when the street was commercial, but the area has changed over the last 10-15 years and it is now primarily residential and in need of changed mindsets when it comes to traffic.

Comment from chuck
Time: August 24, 2009, 5:19 pm

this is the way of the future. it’s a great innovation (called a “neck down”) and paired with bike parking, is a perfectly placed improvement to the neighborhood. Whoever called the Bergen bike lane “underused” is blind. Constant bike traffic on it, taking cars off the road and people out of trains, improving health and giving our neighborhood much more vibrant street life than loud, polluting and potentially deadly automobiles.

Comment from Eric
Time: August 24, 2009, 5:41 pm

These corner extensions have been in Bay Ridge for nearly a decade now. It’s made a lot of the corners much safer to cross and let the crosswalks become unblockable (except for the biggest of biggest douche who would then be blocking traffic too).

Comment from Paco
Time: August 24, 2009, 6:24 pm

I find it hard to listen to anyone complaining that the extra sidewalk space possible any problems. Bergen’s road width doubles west of Smith and encourages drivers to speed through the light dangerously as they approach two elementary schools up the block. Also, there’s 10,000 average riders at the Bergen Street subway station. They deserve a bigger, safer sidewalk as do all the pedestrians strolling along Smith street’s restaurant row. Plus these changes are based in efforts from the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming projects which the community approved years ago. Lastly, I personally went to area businesses and civic groups to gauge their support… they ALL want
these improvements too. I agree it doesn’t look great with orange cones there now… but when construction is complete, even naysayers will be able to enjoy the improvements.
http://bit.ly/bergensmith

Comment from Cy
Time: August 25, 2009, 12:07 am

When I rode through here today on my way to work, I was wondering what this was all about. While slowing traffic is all well and good, it makes the bike lane on Bergen St. almost disappear. Hopefully when everything’s done they’ll fix that… but for now it’s a disaster trying to ride a bike up Bergen at that intersection.

Comment from Marie
Time: August 25, 2009, 6:38 am

A “disaster” is when a car hits a pedestrian. And getting side swiped by a bike ignoring the rules of the road can also be disastrous. These neck downs force cars and bikes to slow down and respect the right of pedestrians to safely cross a street - something drivers and bikers need to be forced to do to prevent disasters. Thank you NYC DOT.

Comment from Neil
Time: August 25, 2009, 9:12 am

Neighbor Hood - please tell us all you’ve had enough and are moving to the auto-friendly suburbs.

Comment from Neighbor Hood
Time: August 25, 2009, 11:00 am

wow! such animosity, and so little specifics . why is it the bike enthusiasts who write in all seem to be of the opinion that nobody should drive a car (or move to the burbs if so) and people like me who walk, use mass transit AND drive when necessary just want a little balance, responsibility and common sense in Bloomy’s traffic plan?
What should the elderly or people w/ physical problems that prevent them bike riding do?
How should we move goods around the city?
Should the hard working cabbies loose their jobs? Should visitors just suck it up and walk or just visit the burbs instead?
I’ve been living/working here for over 20 yrs and traffic congestion is really no worse then when I first drove a rented van full hand me downs to my first apt.
Where I do see problems, it’s usually where they have created bottle necks by strangling the traffic flow (eliminating lanes etc).
How do you reconcile “Traffic calming” by eliminating lanes and then claim you have a congestion problem that can only be fixed by a regressive tax that hits the poorest among us the hardest?
And why did I “charmingly” referred rto underused bike lanes? Well when you drive from mid town to bklyn and you pass 20 people on bikes in the various bike lanes while 100’s of taxis cars and trucks are squeezed into often ONE lane of traffic, yes I call that underused.
Finally, it’s irresponsible to create all these new bike lanes and encourage riding without mandating some sort of safety training and enforcement for bikers. I myself have twice narrowly missed being clipped by a cyclist going the WRONG way down a one way street, and have seen many instances of them not stopping for red lights, and VERY frequently cyclists don’t even use these bike lanes but prefer to ride in the traffic lane or on the other side of the street from the bike lane.
Again, I am only advocating for some common sense and shared responsibility, but perhaps banning ALL motor vehicles from the greatest city on earth is waaay more sensible?

Comment from Jacoc
Time: August 25, 2009, 12:20 pm

This makes it easier for people to walk across the street, and makes car slow down when they approach places where people cross the street. That is all, so relax and enjoy the slower cars and easier walking.

Comment from Neighbor Hood
Time: August 25, 2009, 1:15 pm

So do traffic lights and cross walks. Why don’t they just put one of those ….oh wait….:)
PS. odd…I’ve been walking and crossing Bergen & Court for ’bout 15 years and NEVER had a problem. If there’s traffic, you wait for the “walk” and go!

Comment from Neighbor
Time: August 25, 2009, 2:19 pm

I certainly hope these ‘neck downs’ interfere with traffic. I almost got run over to day while crossing a side street on Smith Street by a truck driving way too fast and making a blind turn. I was at the corner and had the signal in my favor. Making drivers slow down a bit will avoid, potentially fatal, injuries. Some people drive way too fast on Smith, Court and the side streets. We have kids, pets, bike riders on the sidewalks and roads too. If I had kids I’d be seriously concerned about them the way some people drive around here. I’m enthusiastically in support of this project - hopefully we’ll see more and may even seem some speed bumps on Smith and Court. And by the way, I’m one of those people who drive, bike, run and walk around the neighborhood. With a little calming this can be a net positive for everyone.

Comment from Neighbor
Time: August 25, 2009, 2:25 pm

We need another one at the other end of the Bergen subway stop - hopefully that’s next on the list. Oh, and Neighbor Hood - I hope you continue to walk on water. If you don’t, however, you may need a new hip.

Comment from Neighbor Hood
Time: August 25, 2009, 4:07 pm

Forgive them Father, for they know not what what they do.

Comment from Relax
Time: August 25, 2009, 4:46 pm

Neighbor Hood:
Perhaps the traffic was slower when you arrived 15 years ago because of the Icco Cheese trucks, the major manufacturer of cheese and bread trucks on the block until they moved to Orange County in or about 1999/2000, blocked the fast traffic. However, the wide street designed for manufacturing (hard to believe there were major factories on this street, but there were) simply allows for drivers to go too fast.

And, folks, at the end of the day this really isn’t that outrageous to engender such nasty and long comments. It isn’t Armageddon. The NYC DOT tries it, and if it doesn’t work, it can go back to the way it was. At least give credit for an attempt to address a problem. Transportation Alternatives (I”m not a member–just a long time resident of the neighborhood) and the NYC DOT did some signficant research (go to Paco’s link, which is how I learned of the work and his slide presentation). Remember when NYC was at the forefront of things, for better or worse? This is good significant stuff and it beats the Disneyification of 42nd St (don’t get me started on that one—grrrr).

Comment from Tim
Time: August 25, 2009, 5:57 pm

Wow, heated topic! I agree with everyone to some degree. At the end of the day, each of us can and should do better to make the neighborhood safe for our neighbors and those that visit. To those that drive, slow down a bit and don’t block the traffic flow … To those that walk, keep your eyes open …stop texting …and to those that bike, follow the rules of the road … just because you’re not in a car doesn’t mean the rules don’t apply.