The local paper for the Upper East Side TUNING IN FOR THE HOLIDAYS < P. 12
WEEK OF DECEMBER
8-14 2016
THE 16 MOST DANGEROUS INTERSECTIONS IN MANHATTAN Vehicular accidesnt and close calls: life near the most perilous streets BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
15
View the interactive map by reading this article online at ourtownny.com.
Rob Stephenson, “Spring Street and Greene Street, SoHo, Manhattan,” 2016. Courtesy of the photographer/Museum of the City of New York.
On Monday morning, car horns blared as vehicles of all sizes vied for space at East 59th Street and Second Avenue, the second most dangerous intersection in the city. The Roosevelt Island Tramway ferried passengers over the heads of the many pedestrians on the ground, including Aaron Fisher, a street cleaner for the East Midtown Partnership. Fisher was not at all surprised to hear that the site topped the list of Manhattan’s most dangerous intersections and came in second in the city. “I see accidents all the time,” he said. According to data analyzed last spring by CUNY Baruch student Aleksey Bilogur, Manhattan contains 16 of the city’s 25 most dangerous intersections. With an average of 150 vehicular collisions per year, East 59th and Second Avenue comes in first in Manhattan, followed by 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue with 140, then the Bowery and Kenmare Street at 115. But Bilogur added that the safety of certain intersections can be difficult to measure. “Even in what one would term ‘unsafe’ intersections, the actual incident level of accidents is very low,” he said. “The problem that the [Department of Transportation] has been facing for much longer than this one administrative cycle is that you don’t really know how safe or unsafe an intersection is until you’ve seen years and years of data accumulate.” The data Bilogur used came from the city’s OpenData portal, which houses thousands of documents and files from all government agencies, but only goes as far back as 2012. A bundle of pedestrian and cyclist safety bills are making their way through the City Council right now to address some of the challenges pedestrians and cyclists face on city streets. One requests a Department of Transportation (DOT) study on using the Barnes Dance crossing method, where all traffic lights turn red at the same time and pedestrians can walk diagonally through the intersection. According to the DOT’s Manhattan action plan, the Barnes Dance has only been effective “at intersections with about 20,000 pedestrians a day, high pedestrian signal compliance and low vehicular traffic volumes.” The method may not be more widely feasible “due to concerns about excessive pedestrian wait time.” Of a different bill proposing that cyclists adhere to pedestrian signals at some intersections, a DOT spokesperson said they “support the intent of the bill.”
11
Collisions Average Per Year
7
5
2
12 10
4
16 6 14
1 9 13
8 3
1
2nd Ave. & E. 59th St. 1150
2
42nd St. & 8th Ave. 140
A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH HEIGHT
3
The Bowery & Kenmare St.
115
Surveying the skyline: lecture series will address zoning in the city
4
57th St. & 3rd Ave.
110
BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
5
42nd St. & 9th Ave. 110
6
34th St. & 7th Ave.
110
7
W. 40th St. & 11th Ave. 1100
8
The Bowery & Houston St.
9
2nd Ave. & E. 36th St. 1100
10
W. 42nd St. & 7th Ave. 1100
11
1st Ave. & E. 96th St. 1100
12
3rd Ave. & E. 59th St. 95
13
E. 34th St. & 2nd Ave. 90
14
W. 42nd St. & 6th Ave. 90
15
E. 125th St. & 2nd Ave. 90
16
W. 34th St. & 8th Ave. 90
1100
Since the adoption of the city’s first zoning resolution in 100 years ago, the skyline has seen many grand buildings designed, proposed and, in some cases, built, with heights rising taller and taller. As of last fall, there were 22 “supertall” towers topping 984 feet in Manhattan, mostly concentrated in the midtown area. This Thursday, Dec. 8, the Museum of the City of New York will examine the subject as
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, December 9 – 4:10 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
OurTownEastSide
O OURTOWNNY.COM @OurTownNYC
Crime Watch Voices Out & About City Arts
3 8 10 12
Restaurant ratings 13 Real estate 16 Real estate sales 17
We deliver! Get Our Town Eastsider sent directly to your mailbox for $ $49 per year. Go to OurTownNY.com or call 212-868-0190