New Visions of 4th Avenue & 9th Street

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A “complete street” is one that “safely accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, trucks and cars,” says Transportation Alternatives, and we don’t have many of them. So they challenged folks in their competition “Designing the 21st Century Street” to reinvent the corner of 9th Street and 4th Avenue, “a crossing that exemplifies car-first design by encouraging speeding and reckless driving while all but ignoring the walking and biking environment.” The result: over 100 submissions from 13 countries, and these three winners. “Shared Space” by Steven Miller of Somerville, MA, with a big ole bike lane and adequate bike parking; “Streets for Everyone” by Rogers Marvel Architects of NYC, which seems to have an express and local lane of traffic, interrupted by a plant-filled boardwalk; and “Streets Come Alive” by team LEVON, Philadelphia, PA, which turns the median strip into a park (notice only one car rumbles down 4th in this picture).