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December 21, 2007
Closing Bell: Left Turns Nixed on 4th & Union
4th Avenue’s transformation from traffic-choked truck route to residential strip got a little boost from the DOT recently. The department bowed to the wishes of the Park Slope Civic Council and eliminated northbound left turns at 4th and Union. The Civic Council argued that the turns were unnecessary since the westbound traffic lane ends at 3rd Ave. and Union, a block away, and that they endangered pedestrians. GMAP
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Comments
I was wondering what was happening over here lately. Couldnt be happier - this was such a dangerous spot when coming out of the subway. All of those U-Turners were reckless with the pedestrian traffic. Good riddance.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 4:34 PM
this really makes no sense as union street between 3rd and 4th avenue is two way and very industrial. so now instead trucks have to make left turns onto narrower one way streets that are likely more residential. plus it has encouraged illegal u turns on the next block. all in all a bad decision.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 5:20 PM
not to mention anyone that wants to use the hess gas station (one of only 2 left on fourth ave in park slope) has to either make an illegal u turn, the next legal u turn or make a left, then a left on third avenue and another left on union (which nobody will do). making a left off fourth onto union is far more safer then the options. again poorly thought out.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 5:29 PM
Cars making a left at Union endangers pedestrians? Well, why does it help matters if more cars turn a block or two away and then have to circle back? Have there been any actual accidents or is this just speculation?
Ridiculous, there is a gas station at Union and 4th cars. There are not many left and this is going to make it a lot harder to get to it. Now you'll have to make an illegal U turn or go all the way to 3rd and circle back.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at December 21, 2007 5:29 PM
hey brooklyn native we had the same exact thought at the exact same time.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 5:57 PM
I use this Hess station and the left turn ban will make it a bit harder to reach, but it's no big deal to take 3rd or 5th Ave. to Union Street or 3rd Ave to Sackett Street, which has the other entrance to the gas station.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at December 21, 2007 6:14 PM
That crossing is particularly dangerous because everyone gets out of the subway and is relegated to about a two-foot wide median if they can't make it across 4th avenue in time. Hopefully this project will result in a wider permanent median as well.
While we're at it, how about making Union St. one-way, one-lane eastbound to Grand Army Plaza (plus a bike lane)? I think Union being two-way makes the street more dangerous than any other side street in the slope, with all the double-parking, etc. I suppose the B71's four riders would be upset, but that route runs so infrequently that it's basically useless anyway.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 6:26 PM
i love what's happening on 4th avenue.
just that fact that people are paying attention to it says something.
3 years ago, no one could have cared about 4th. and now half the threads are about new condos popping up on it, improving traffic patterns, etc.
it's a good sign for this major thoroughfare.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 6:36 PM
Brooklynnative, according to www.crashstat.org, there have been between 12-22 pedestrian injuries at that intersection between 1995-2005 -- before the 4th avenue development boom.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 6:38 PM
Bah humbug.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 7:08 PM
4th Ave is a scary street for pedestrians--a friend of mine recently got hit by a turning bus. Any solutions are a welcome boon to the 'hood. Now if they'd only enforce the speed limit!
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 8:45 PM
The Pizza Place in the picture is sooooo yummy! They have the best pizza anywhere around here.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 9:16 PM
Motorists - I hear you but it's not all about your convenience. You're not the only users of the street. This is a minimal accommodation to pedestrians. Deal with it. Loop around the block to the gas station.
Posted by: guest at December 21, 2007 11:16 PM
what's the deal with flowers by ron? been closed for well over a year i think.
Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 1:53 AM
driving a car in nyc should be inconvenient and expensive - all efforts to make the quality of life better for a public transportation using pedestrian is welcomed.
Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 7:18 AM
Pizza in NYC hasn't been the same since the Albanians took over from the Italians.
Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 7:59 AM
as a person with a car (sorry hater, i mean 7:18), it is a minor inconvenience to not have that left turn. get over it, fellow carbon chompers.
Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 8:01 AM
Agree making Union one way would be a good idea.
I once lived on Union - between 4th and 5th - boy, does it get truck traffic (though at the time, mid-80's, it was less worrisome than the heroin-buying traffic (a half-block of cars double parked on the block waiting to buy in front of the local sales place a few buildings down from the one I lived in, and all the cops did was ask each driver to show them license and registration and then left them alone) and later, the crack-buying traffic (foot traffic, where purchasers would walk a few entrances up and smoke it and collapse in our building's small entryway, so small we'd have to open the door, and wait for them to get up and leave before we could pass through the vestibule to the inner door)...but I digress.
The truck traffic put clouds of thick black smoke into the air, that drifted into my windows and lodged in my lungs making me cough. Learned the hard way to avoid Union St. in my future P.S. apartment searches. Drugs gone, but the traffic and trucks are arguably worse now...
Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 4:26 PM
as a driver i am not anti pedestrian. why on this board is it always that drivers hate people who walk on the street. the fact is that getting rid of this turn will make it more dangerous for people who live on sackett etc . again trucks making turns onto more residential streets to and from 4th to 3rd avenue. cars looping back at other intersections making illegal u turns. yes in ideal world every one would loop around but the reality is that wont happen. and for 7:18 driving in new york is expensive, your probably too poor to know this. and yes all efforts should be made to make it safer for pedestrians, this one is just change for the sake of change.
Posted by: guest at December 22, 2007 6:33 PM
Eliminating that turning lane at 4th and Union makes the intersection safer for Pedestrians. Period. Why eliminate the lane at that particular corner? Because there's a heavily frequented subway stop on that corner. Every day between 4:30 and 7:30 pm, hordes of pedestrians stream out of the station and often get stuck in the middle of 4th avenue, mere inches from fast-moving cars sliding into the turning lane.
Eliminating that turn may force traffic on to other streets, but chances are the pedestrian traffic at those corners is far lighter than it is at 4th and Union due to the train.
And making Union Street one way with a bike lane is an excellent idea! Used to live at 5th and Union, and saw at least 3 accidents at that intersection-- too much traffic.
Posted by: guest at December 23, 2007 12:18 PM
Whether or not it makes things safer, the DOT could done worlds better than those butt-ugly whatevers. If this is indeed a permanent change, why not build up the curb?
And for those of you who want Union one way...that's absoulutely the wrong thing to do. 2-way streets are slower and safer (if for no other reason, that people double-park and slow things down. Would you rather have 5th/7th ave or Smith/Court sts? Or 6th vs 8th Aves?
Posted by: cmu at December 23, 2007 4:18 PM
6:26 referred to "the B71's four riders." There will probably be more riders once the MTA starts sending the B71 through the tunnel to South Ferry:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/nyregion/18service.html
Still, no reason the counterflow lane couldn't be both for bikes and buses.
Posted by: Capn Transit at December 23, 2007 6:34 PM
People are still making the left there.
Ugly-ass plastic thingies, no-left-turn sign or what.
It's the Brooklyn Way!
Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 9:10 AM
Close 4th Avenue completely, hen no one will ever die. Ever.
Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 12:56 PM
I cross that street at rush hour every day. At the most there are about 4 people who get stuck on that median when the light change catches them in the middle of the street. The median is plenty big. In fact, it's as big as every other median from Atlantic Avenue to 70th Street. What makes Park Slope special? Are we too stupid to stand on a 3 foot median? The people who live in Sunset Park seem to manage to do it.
Posted by: guest at April 9, 2008 11:18 AM
I cross that street at rush hour every day. At the most there are about 4 people who get stuck on that median when the light change catches them in the middle of the street. The median is plenty big. In fact, it's as big as every other median from Atlantic Avenue to 70th Street. What makes Park Slope special? Are we too stupid to stand on a 3 foot median? The people who live in Sunset Park seem to manage to do it.
Posted by: guest at April 9, 2008 11:26 AM
I cross that street at rush hour every day. At the most there are about 4 people who get stuck on that median when the light change catches them in the middle of the street. The median is plenty big. In fact, it's as big as every other median from Atlantic Avenue to 70th Street. What makes Park Slope special? Are we too stupid to stand on a 3 foot median? The people who live in Sunset Park seem to manage to do it.
Posted by: guest at April 9, 2008 11:27 AM
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