NYC DOT Completes Safety Redesign at 230th Street and Broadway, Capping a Year of Safety Improvements Across the Bronx

Upgrade is the latest in a series of safety improvements, including adding countdown pedestrian signals to Grand Concourse

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced the completion of a comprehensive safety project at the complex intersection of Broadway and 230th Street, an area with heavy pedestrian traffic, long crossing distances and many significant crashes in the last five years. DOT installed two new pedestrian islands, a new concrete median, extended an existing median, added pedestrian fencing, painted markings to guide traffic and constructed pedestrian ramps to clarify and simplify pedestrian and traffic movements at a location that has seen 60 injuries from 2006 to 2010, and which is located near three schools. The changes are the latest in a series of projects from 2011 that have increased safety in several Bronx neighborhoods and in addition to the more than 1,150 countdown signals at 154 intersections DOT installed in the last year along Bronx corridors including the Grand Concourse, East Fordham Road and White Plains Road, all part of a citywide campaigns to improve safety.

“Whether it was installing the city’s first-ever slow zone in Claremont, speed boards on Bruckner Boulevard or bringing pedestrian countdown signals to the Grand Concourse, the Bronx saw some of the city’s most innovative and sustained safety campaigns last year,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “New York’s streets continue to be safer than ever and we are not letting up as we bring even more safety enhancements to the Bronx and citywide.”

“I am glad to hear about the completion of this safety project at the intersection of Broadway and 230th Street and strongly believe it will lead to a safer community for our children, parents, our senior citizens, and everyone who lives in this great borough,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “I thank the Department of Transportation and Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan for helping keep our streets safe, and I look forward to evaluating this project’s success in the future.”

“I am pleased that these safety improvements were installed by DOT,” said Council Member Oliver Koppell. “A recent study has confirmed that Broadway in the Bronx is one of the most dangerous streets in the city. These improvements will make Broadway safer.”

At 230th Street and Broadway, the wide roadway beneath the elevated No. 1 train has complex turns, driveways and access the Major Deegan Expressway conflicting with long pedestrian crossings. DOT modified markings to clarify where cars should turn, extended the concrete median for pedestrians crossing Broadway by 50 feet, added a new 115 foot median with fencing at the intersection and installed new pedestrian ramps on the Green Street island at Exterior Street. Altogether, DOT poured more than 3700 sq. ft. of concrete at this location, while installing 630 ft. of new pedestrian fencing.

In addition to the redesign at 230th Street, The Bronx is home to many of the DOT’s traffic calming and street improvements projects for 2011 including:

The city’s first-ever Neighborhood Slow Zone debuted in November in the quarter-square mile Claremont neighborhood plagued by speeding. The local community board requested the improvements as part of the citywide, community-based program.

Installing 1,155 pedestrian countdown signals at 154 intersections throughout the borough, including Grand Concourse, White Plains Road, East Tremont Avenue, Boston Road, Metropolitan Avenue, Baychester Avenue, Riverdale Avenue, Bruckner Boulevard and Co-Op City Boulevard.

Traffic calming and pedestrian safety improvements, including safety islands and neckdowns, along densely populated residential area of Macombs Road in the Morris Heights neighborhood. The improvements were designed to provide safer pedestrian crossings, reduce speeding, create new public space and built out the bike network. This area had a high incidence of pedestrian injuries and one fatality in the last five years.

A plaza requested by the local BID at Belmont and Crescent avenues in the Bronx’s Little Italy, which improved visual appeal and added planters to delineate between traffic and public space.

School safety improvements near P.S. 9 on Grand Concourse at East 183rd Street, the site of a February 2011 child fatality. This project expanded existing medians, adjusted roadway markings and added a left turn signal.

DOT also expanded its use of speed boards throughout the five boroughs this year, including kicking off the program in the Bronx this April along the Bruckner Boulevard and Kearney Avenue and made significant progress in its initiative to install pedestrian countdown signals at over 1,500 intersections citywide.

In addition to the infrastructure improvements, DOT also launched the “That’s Why it’s 30” ad campaign to reduce speeding, the “Don’t be a Jerk” ad campaign to promote cycling safety and the curbside Haiku signage for pedestrians to combat speeding. DOT will continue its ongoing safety campaigns that implement safety engineering changes around schools and in senior-dense neighborhoods with high numbers of serious traffic crashes.

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