Following the death of a 31-year-old woman on Atlantic Avenue last month, local residents are rallying for street design improvements along one of Brooklyn's most dangerous streets.
“It’s unacceptable the way this corridor has become defined by danger and death. These streets belong to our people, and they should be designed to ensure the safety of all users,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
A pedestrian safety community walk was held on April 29 along Atlantic Avenue to highlight pedestrian safety improvements and to honor the lives lost along the corridor due to traffic violence.
“Daylighted intersections, better sidewalks and slower speeds are all within reach as long as we are unified from the most local level all the way up to the federal government. Whether it’s passing Sammy’s Law in Albany, acquiring federal infrastructure funds to reimagine the BQE, or working alongside NYCDOT to add more crosswalks, I stand with my colleagues and fellow advocates in calling for action up and down Atlantic Avenue,” Reynoso said.
The walk honored Katie Harris, a 31-year-old woman who was killed on April 16 by a dangerous driver. Harris’s family joined the walk from Furman Street to Flatbush Avenue.
“It shouldn’t take another tragic loss of life on Atlantic Avenue for the city to implement these common sense, well-tested street design modifications. Back in 2010, an article in the New York Daily News called Atlantic Avenue 'The Avenue of Death' and here we are, thirteen years later, in mourning for yet another neighbor struck down. NYCDOT must take responsibility for immediately making these necessary design changes on this deadly road,” said Lara Birnback, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association.
In the past 10 years, there have been more than 100 crashes resulting in serious injury along Atlantic Avenue, despite the entire corridor being a Vision Zero priority.
“Atlantic Avenue is a proven deadly street and a Vision Zero priority corridor, and it should be entirely redesigned,” said Kathy Park Price, Brooklyn organizer for Transportation Alternatives. “We’ve lost too many of our neighbors, family members, and friends to a dangerous street that does not serve our communities’ needs. The city can and must build traffic calming measures all along the avenue — we cannot allow streets like Atlantic Avenue to remain so unsafe when so many common-sense fixes exist.”
Demonstrators are also calling on local and state officials to consider installing traffic calming measures. Traffic calming measures that have been suggested for Atlantic Avenue include:
- Install mid-block traffic lights to slow traffic and create more efficient pedestrian crossings
- Redesign pedestrian crossings using “daylighting” and/or raised crosswalks to improve pedestrian visibility. Raised crosswalks were specifically recommended by community members of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Task Force (empaneled in 1999) for the intersections of Atlantic and Hicks, Atlantic and Henry, and Atlantic and Clinton. DOT refused to pilot them at that time.
- Extend the curbs at intersections to calm traffic
- Redesign the sidewalk and pedestrian space surrounding the BQE entrance/exit ramps near the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park
“We can not wait for another crash, another life lost or near miss, to finally make Atlantic Avenue safe for pedestrians and cyclists. I’m committed to working with my colleagues and the community to push NYC DOT to the table to implement the solutions we have been calling on for years,” said State Sen. Andrew Gounardes.
