With our elected officials’ help, we’ve been pushing the Department of Transportation to make good on its promise to provide a solution to the traffic problem that plagues Grand Street, Clinton Street, and East Broadway.
On Thursday, we might finally get a chance to hear the DOT proposal at a special CB3 meeting:
Thursday, June 28
6:30 – 8:30 pm
301 Henry Street
(Henry Street Settlement Youth Services Gymnasium)
If you can, please show up (wearing your pink Grand Street Dems shirt) so DOT knows just how important this issue is to our neighborhood.
At last night’s regular meeting, Grand Street Democrats approved the following resolution:
The L Train East River Tunnel requires extensive repairs that will disrupt the commute of thousands of New Yorkers for 18 months or more. These repairs are necessary, and the disruption is unavoidable. However, the current MTA contingency plans fail to adequately address the challenge. For example, with the current plan, non-HOV cars will be forced off Delancey onto smaller streets that already suffer from congestion and unsafe conditions for pedestrians. We urge the MTA to consider several important changes to its plans and approach.
Fully review the impact on residential streets surrounding the 14th Street and Delancey Street corridors, particularly along Grand Street and Clinton Street.
Assign electric buses, not diesel, to the Delancey and 14th Street corridors. The sheer volume of additional bus traffic on these routes as part of the mitigation plan makes diesel a disastrous choice for air quality.
Provide long-overdue access for people with disabilities and elderly to all subway stations undergoing renovation.
Vet mitigation plans through a formal and collaborative environmental review and impact study and commit to getting approval from Community Boards in the affected neighborhoods before work begins.
We support the lawsuit brought by community groups, individuals, and organizations representing the disabled which would require the MTA and NYC DOT to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and prepare an environmental impact statement.
We urge our city council members and state representatives to officially support these efforts to improve the existing L Train contingency plan.
With new retail opening this fall at Essex Crossing, and especially the L Train shutdown starting in 2019, we need to develop a better plan to handle cars now so that the problem doesn’t get out of control.
Below is the letter we sent out today:
Commissioner Trottenberg,
We write to you about the intersection of Clinton Street and Grand Street on the Lower East Side. Significant traffic congestion at this intersection continues to impact the surrounding streets and neighborhoods. We urge the Department of Transportation to release data, progress, conclusions, and recommendations from any traffic study at this intersection conducted in 2017 or that is underway, and to commit to developing a comprehensive plan for community review that will route bridge traffic to wider streets with more capacity.
The conditions at this intersection and nearby streets continue to worsen.
• Narrow streets that approach the Williamsburg Bridge here are inadequate for the number of cars leaving Manhattan by this route.
• Gridlock at Clinton and Grand creates a backlog of cars in two directions, impacting East Broadway and extending up the FDR Drive as far as Houston Street.
• This bottleneck creates a safety hazard for pedestrians and bicyclists over several blocks.
• Incessant honking from frustrated drivers, often late at night, is a serious aggravation for residents.
• New construction of several high-rise buildings with active retail will compound the congestion problem within this traffic zone.
• The L Train shutdown starting in 2019 will have a big effect on these same streets, as non-HVO cars are diverted from the Williamsburg Bridge.
We must make plans now to help this neighborhood accommodate its rapid growth. It is not appropriate to use this residential area as an on-ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge.
Sincerely,
Caroline Laskow
Lee Berman
Daisy Paez
Democratic District Leaders
Sandra Strother
President, Grand Street Guild Residents Association
Doron Stember
President, Seward Park Cooperative
Vaylateena Jones
Lower East Side Power Partnership
Local elected officials this week petitioned DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill about the ongoing traffic problem at Grand and Clinton Streets.
State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, US Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Carolyn Maloney, Borough President Gale Brewer, and Councilmember Margaret Chin all signed the letter, writing, “It is critical that your agencies work swiftly with the community to find solutions to this ongoing traffic problem.”
The letter indicates that DOT will present findings of its traffic study at a Community Board meeting in May. No date for such a presentation has yet been announced.
Earlier this year, Grand Street Democrats convened a Traffic Town Hall with elected officials to help make sure DOT officials understood the seriousness of the growing problem.
District leaders Caroline Laskow, Lee Berman, and Daisy Paez, along with other GSD members, joined a call last month with Luis Sanchez and Sean Quinn of the Department of Transportation to follow up from our Traffic Town Hall in January. There was very little new information on the call. DOT officials said they needed time to gather and analyze data from traffic counters that have been placed in several locations around the neighborhood.
Below is a letter from GSD President Jeremy Sherber to Sanchez and Quinn being sent today. Our goal is to set reasonable deadlines for DOT to deliver data analysis and new plans.
March 5, 2018
Luis Sanchez, Manhattan Borough Commissioner
Sean Quinn, Senior Director, Office of Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs
NYC Department of Transportation
55 Water Street
New York, NY 10041
Commissioner Sanchez and Director Quinn,
Many thanks for continuing to speak with community members about the growing traffic problem around Grand and Clinton Streets.
First of all, I’d like to get a follow-up meeting on the calendar for the week of May 21. That should provide enough time to read preliminary data from traffic counters and for us to have a more meaningful discussion of possible solutions and how to present options to the community.
Are you free Tuesday, May 22 or Wednesday, May 23 at 10:00 am or 11:00 am?
Second, I want to make sure to emphasize a point that I keep hearing from neighbors, and that we tried to convey in our call last month. High-rise development in the area right around the Grand/Clinton intersection has only just started: residents and stores have yet to move in to the three buildings already constructed, two more buildings are underway, and three new developments have been announced all within the immediate area we are discussing. The new buildings will be constructed as-of-right, so DOT may never be asked to weigh in on their impact — but that does not mean they won’t have an impact. Any plan we make now to mitigate the traffic in this area must take into consideration the rapid growth these few blocks are experiencing.
The existing traffic problem creates a noise and safety challenge for our residential neighborhood. New development will only add to the amount of legitimate local traffic and to the people being affected by congestion. Next year’s L train shutdown will undoubtedly create even more traffic on these narrow streets. So the solution we are asking for is one that routes Williamsburg Bridge traffic around these blocks, not through them.
We shouldn’t have to wait years until construction has stopped to plan a better traffic pattern. Drivers need to be directed to major arteries like Houston Street, Essex Street, Allen Street, and Delancey Street. The smaller streets in this residential area are not an appropriate approach to the Williamsburg Bridge — and tweaks to signage and traffic light timing are not going to change that.
Manny Cantor Center was filled Thursday night with 175 residents, half a dozen elected officials, and two high-ranking Department of Transportation officials to talk about the growing traffic problem on Grand and Clinton Streets. District Leaders Caroline Laskow and Lee Berman hosted the event.
The problem is focused on the corner of Grand and Clinton Streets, where cars coming west on Grand Street from the FDR Drive and north on Clinton Street from downtown Manhattan converge before getting on the Williamsburg Bridge. The bottleneck there keeps our streets clogged with honking cars during evening rush hour and late at night, dramatically impacting safety and quality of life. (See Matt Marello’s video to witness the problem.)
Existing traffic conditions.
How did this come about? Sean Quinn, from DOT’s Office of Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs kicked off the evening with a presentation detailing 10 years of pedestrian safety improvements in the neighborhood that have left these streets unable to cope with the increase in automobiles. Most impactful was the decision in 2012, in response to the growing rate of accidents on Delancey and the tragic death of 12-year-old Dashane Santana, to block left turns from Essex Street onto Delancey and to open Clinton Street as an access route to the bridge. This made it more difficult for drivers to get to the Williamsburg Bridge from the Houston Street exit of the FDR, and pushed them to Grand Street.
The drivers who come through, honking in frustration at the traffic, do not live here, or work here, or shop here.
Since then, we’ve watched as our residential neighborhood has been turned into an on-ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge. The drivers who come through, honking in frustration at the traffic, do not live here, or work here, or shop here — they are just trying to get out of Manhattan. And despite a petition last year signed by more than 1000 residents, letters of concern from our elected officials, and a resolution from the Community Board, no progress has been made by DOT to improve the situation.
Grand Street Democrats members Jeremy Sherber and William Rockwell presented two short-term ideas to relieve pressure at Clinton and Grand. One would force Grand Street drivers to drive past Clinton and make turns on Norfolk or Essex Street to get to the bridge, while allowing Clinton Street drivers to continue to feed onto the bridge. The idea here is that both streams of traffic might flow more smoothly if they were not forced to merge together.
One interim solution would reduce gridlock at Grand and Clinton.
The other idea would be to stop the Clinton Street approach south of Grand Street altogether, making sure drivers from downtown used larger streets like Allen and Essex to get to the bridge. In this scenario, the number of cars on Grand would not decrease, but the flow of traffic would improve, hopefully getting rid of the angry honking.
Or eliminate bridge traffic from Clinton Street altogether.
But even these suggestions don’t address the real issue: these streets are not appropriate for bridge traffic at all. That’s why DOT needs to explore changes that take commuters off these residential streets altogether and push bridge traffic to larger, more appropriate avenues on the perimeter of our neighborhood.
Bridge traffic should be routed to larger avenues on the perimeter of this neighborhood.
Essex Crossing construction is in full swing and will bring thousands more residents to this neighborhood, along with significant new retail that will draw shoppers, car service pick-ups, and delivery vehicles. The streets directly involved today in feeding the Williamsburg Bridge are facing a major increase in local traffic in 2018. To support the residents and businesses in these new developments, DOT must find some other way for drivers to get to the bridge.
Many residents spoke Thursday about other ideas that need to be explored, including a safer, dedicated left-turn lane from Essex to Delancey; moving bike lanes to streets not also used by so many cars; an exit from the FDR directly onto Delancey; better timing of traffic lights at Grand and Clinton; and a general realignment of tolls that would limit the attraction of the free Williamsburg Bridge to commuters and delivery vehicles. Undoubtedly any comprehensive solution will need to consider all of these options, and more.
These residential streets are not appropriate for bridge traffic at all.
So what’s next? DOT did not give any new information about its plans or offer any specific recommendations of its own. In fact, Manhattan Commissioner Luis Sanchez said that they don’t like to do full studies unless they have a baseline “normal” traffic to start with, and since Essex Crossing construction will continue for another 5-6 years, there won’t be any “normal” traffic pattern for years. District Leader Lee Berman countered that the long lines of cars, the gridlock, and the honking — these are the new “normal” for our neighborhood, and DOT can’t keep dragging its heels on producing real recommendations to solve this problem.
Thursday’s large, passionate turnout will help convince the elected officials in attendance that this is an issue of great concern to our community. Grand Street Democrats will continue to put pressure on our elected officials and DOT officials to deliver meaningful results.
There’s a lot to say about last night’s Traffic Town Hall — 175 neighbors, five elected officials, DOT officials and engineers all getting together to address the problem made for a successful meeting. But nothing’s fixed yet, the problem is growing, and we need to keep the pressure on. So we’ll have more to say later.
Our residential neighborhood is being turned into an on-ramp for the Williamsburg Bridge. The intersection of Grand and Clinton is the main center of the problem, creating a honking backup for several blocks in both directions. Despite a resolution from Community Board 3 and letters from our local elected officials, the Department of Transportation has not adequately addressed the situation. In fact, it’s gotten worse.
Councilmember Margaret Chin has helped us secure the DOT Manhattan Commissioner for a town hall on Thursday, January 11. Other elected officials will be participating, and several community groups are co-sponsoring the event because this is a matter that effects the quality of life of everyone in the neighborhood.
Seward Coop resident Matt Marello filmed the intersection last winter to illustrate exactly why the traffic pattern is causing such a problem.
We will be presenting two short-term solutions to keep cars moving more efficiently and safely, while pushing for long-term changes that would keep this traffic out of our neighborhood entirely.
Please join us to show DOT how important this issue is to all of us.
Department of Transit Manhattan Borough Commissioner Luis Sanchez took questions for an hour at Wednesday night’s meeting of the 7th Precinct Community Council from residents concerned about the increased traffic on Grand and Clinton Streets.
Sanchez said DOT has looked at a bunch of different options — traffic signal timing, changes in signage on the FDR, banning a right turn onto Clinton from Grand — to alleviate congestion in this residential corridor, but has not settled on any solution. Construction, said Sanchez, at Essex Crossing and the Houston Street on/off ramps has caused major headaches and make any analysis subject to change as soon as the construction zones shift.
Bottom line: DOT does not yet have any recommendations to alleviate congestion on Grand and Clinton.
Here’s a live view of traffic in our neighborhood from Waze:
But the hundred or so neighbors who came out Wednesday were not ready to take “no” for an answer.
Several community members asked if there is nothing to do about the number of cars, can the police do anything about the honking, often late at night? Honking tickets, it turns out, are particularly difficult to issue — and create even more congestion while drivers are pulled over.
How about cameras at East Broadway and Clinton to fine drivers who block the box? It turns out there is state legislation about how many traffic cameras can be installed in New York and in what areas.
Many people had specific suggestions about how to re-route traffic to the Williamsburg Bridge. How about opening Suffolk Street northbound so there are three ways to get from Grand to Delancey? Or turn Delancey Street under the bridge into the main access point, bypassing Grand Street altogether? What if the whole neighborhood were blocked off from through traffic so that cars are pushed up Essex or even Allen? Each option got a lukewarm response from DOT’s Sanchez, with assurances that every option is still on the table.
So what will it take to get the DOT to make some real changes? We plan to continue putting pressure on DOT officials to make sure they know just how disruptive this problem is to our residential community. Right now we are working with Councilmember Margaret Chin to hold a Traffic Town Hall on Thursday, January 11, where we’ll have a chance to make clear to DOT officials that the traffic madness has to stop.
The Department of Transportation has been dragging its heels on the traffic problem on Grand & Clinton. That’s why showing up at the NYPD 7th Precinct Community Council on Wednesday at 7:30 pm is so important.
7th Precinct Community Council
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
7:30 pm
19½ Pitt Street (between Broome and Delancey)
Our local NYPD Community Council has gotten DOT Manhattan Commissioner Luis Sanchez to attend its monthly meeting this week. These Community Council meetings are a great neighborhood resource but are usually lightly attended. We urge you to attend on Wednesday to make sure Mr. Sanchez knows how important this issue is to our quality of life.
We also continue to work with Councilmember Chin to get a larger public meeting in January. We need to push this from as many angles as possible to get DOT to address this problem.
The L Train East River Tunnel requires extensive repairs that will disrupt the commute of thousands of New Yorkers for 18 months or more. These repairs are necessary, and the disruption is unavoidable. However, the current MTA contingency plans fail to adequately address the challenge. For example, with the current plan, non-HOV cars will be forced off Delancey onto smaller streets that already suffer from congestion and unsafe conditions for pedestrians. We urge the MTA to consider several important changes to its plans and approach.
Following a 
