A harmful stretch of Delancey Street in Manhattan will get main security upgrades thanks to a brand new federal program helmed by New York Metropolis’s former transportation commissioner.
The U.S. Division of Transportation on Wednesday introduced a grant of practically $21 million for the town to improve the busy avenue on the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. It’s part of the town the place cyclists navigate by way of a motorcycle lane subsequent to a number of busy lanes of site visitors and the place there’s little house for pedestrians.
The award is among the many first to be distributed by way of the federal “Safe Streets For All” initiative, which was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Invoice and allocates $800 million this yr to add security options to roadways throughout the nation which have excessive charges of crashes.
The Delancey Street upgrades will come to a infamous space that’s seen greater than 200 crashes over the past decade — and the place 12-year-old Dashane Santana was struck and killed by a driver in 2012.
The town final made main adjustments to the world of Delancey Street close to the bridge in 2012, however federal officers now goal to give the world a “road diet.” The federal cash pays for a brand new redesign that reduces site visitors lanes on the road, whereas including totally protected bike lanes and widened sidewalks.
“Congestion coming on and off the Williamsburg Bridge is a huge environmental concern for this area that is still predominantly low-income people of color,” mentioned Metropolis Councilmember Christopher Marte, whose district consists of the road. “Accidents are at least a weekly occurrence, and tragedies are too common.”
The federal program is analogous to New York Metropolis’s Imaginative and prescient Zero program, which launched in 2014 underneath former Mayor Invoice de Blasio and his Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. This system goals to eradicate site visitors deaths throughout the 5 boroughs, primarily by redesigning harmful streets.
Now, Trottenberg serves as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation and oversees the distribution of funding for the federal program.
Trottenberg advised Gothamist her work on Imaginative and prescient Zero “definitely informed the design of this grant program and of our larger national roadway safety strategy.”
The $21 million grant is the one one New York Metropolis will obtain by way of this system. In the meantime, Vineland, New Jersey, a city with a inhabitants of 60,000, is slated to get $20 million for highway enhancements.
Trottenberg cautioned in opposition to evaluating the 2.
“This is a program where I think we’re trying to seed creative approaches to safety in a bunch of different communities around the country,” she mentioned.
Implementing the adjustments will fall on the town’s Division of Transportation, which fell behind on objectives for brand spanking new bus and bike lanes throughout Mayor Eric Adams’ first yr in workplace.
Nevertheless, the company did make enhancements to 1,400 intersections final yr. And whereas site visitors deaths fell barely from 2021 to 2022, final yr noticed essentially the most kids killed since Imaginative and prescient Zero launched.