13 votes

New York City finishes protected bus lane designs in downtown Brooklyn

Posted by scroll_lock
Tags: usa.ny.nyc, infrastructure, automotive, buses, bus lanes, department of transport, roads, brooklyn
https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2024/nyc-dot-livingston-st-redesign.shtml

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Title
NYC DOT Completes Transformative Bus Lane Redesign on Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Improving Service and Enhancing Safety Along Corridor
Word count
1266 words

3 comments

  1. [2]
    gzrrt
    Link
    Downtown Brooklyn has a very long way to go before it's a decent place for pedestrians, but this looks like an improvement

    Downtown Brooklyn has a very long way to go before it's a decent place for pedestrians, but this looks like an improvement

    5 votes
    1. scroll_lock
      Link Parent
      Yes, I would like to see several road diets and some more dedicated BRT infrastructure. Livingston is looking nice for that one-mile stretch, but it's far from sufficient for the neighborhood....

      Yes, I would like to see several road diets and some more dedicated BRT infrastructure. Livingston is looking nice for that one-mile stretch, but it's far from sufficient for the neighborhood.

      From the Street View data I have offhand, intersections like Flatbush & Tillary are meh but OK. There is a nice big pedestrian crossing island on the Brooklyn Bridge Blvd, though it could stand to have some better bollards, and could also use a diet. The intersection with Cadman Plz has a slip lane which should never exist in an area with a lot of pedestrians or should at least have dedicated pedestrian priority signals, or an automated mechanism to add a red light for cars when pedestrians are detected nearby (like in the NL). And of course the whole area near the bridge is a bit of a nightmare. The BQE (278) should be buried. Atlantic Ave can be a headache too.

      I haven't been spending a lot of time in Brooklyn the past few years (because I don't live in New York right now) but the next time I visit I will try to get a sense of how the area has improved. In general, I don't think pedestrians should be crossing more than two lanes of traffic at a time for any reason, and no more than four lanes (with an island in the center) for a particularly busy road in this area. It just isn't safe or pleasant. Of course the dream would be full pedestrianization in some areas, but I'm not sure where.

      1 vote
  2. scroll_lock
    Link

    New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced the completion of the redesign of Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn, from Boerum Place to Flatbush Avenue. The project delivers about a mile of newly designed bus lanes, the majority of which are physically protected, and seven intersection redesigns to make bus service faster and more reliable for 50,000 daily bus riders while greatly improving traffic safety on a corridor congested with illegal parking. With the completion of this project, NYC DOT installed more than 18 miles of new, enhanced, or protected bus lanes in 2023, among the most annual miles in record-keeping history, improving service for more than 300,000 daily bus riders.

    The redesigned Livingston Street corridor serves four bus routes, the B41, B45, B67, and B103, and better connects those riders to seven subway lines—2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, and G—as well as important destinations like the Fulton Mall and Brooklyn Borough Hall.

    Livingston Street was converted from two-way to one-way westbound for general traffic to provide fully separated dedicated space for buses. The innovative design physically places two-way bus lanes on the south side of the street and general traffic, parking, and loading on the north side. With the installation of new concrete bus boarding islands and plastic barriers, the buses are physically protected from traffic. NYC DOT will also work with MTA to expand automated enforcement along the corridor.