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The DOT has been digging up the middle of Vanderbilt Avenue on stretches north of Grand Army Plaza and installing landscaped medians along the thoroughfare. The work is part of a series of traffic calming measures on Vanderbilt that also includes new bike lanes (right). Some people on Brooklynian have noted that workers have been uncovering the remains of old trolley tracks during their digs.
What’s Happening in the Middle of Vandy? [Brooklynian] GMAP


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  1. OMG, I agree with the What…

    We’ll just have to undo this. The resulting median is the result of the Prospect Heights moms with strollers, who couldn’t get it to together to cross Vanderbilt. It was fine as it was. As a long term resident, I cannot believe that my tax dollars are being used for the median and will no doubt be used to undo the median.

    Can we say Fulton Mall?

  2. And bike paths too – nice. This area has long needed a bike route north from GAP.

    What, it’s pretty well established that adding more traffic lanes doesn’t do much to actually make traffic move faster. Most city planners these days are doing the opposite: having fewer, more intelligently situated lanes of traffic.

    Consider Vanderbilt: you really don’t need any more than one lane of traffice on each side, as long as that lane moves smoothly. How to keep traffic moving? Make separate turn lanes, so people driving straight won’t be held up by turners. Also, with two lanes of traffic, they often have to merge around double-parked cars, which means slowdowns. With only one lane, it can move around a car without merging, which means it keeps moving.

    Other examples are 9th Avenue from Chelsea to the Village, where they narrowed the avenue for bike and turn lanes. Or Broadway through Soho, where they narrowed the vehicla lanes in favor of more prominent bus lanes. Or DeKalb Ave in Fort Greene, which I believe has been cut down from two travel lanes to one. None of these changes has resulted in congestion; but they have made for improvements for bicyclists, buses, and pedestrians, respectively.

    And, I don’t AY is going to make much of a difference. Anyway, if it’s necessary, they can widen the street again when and if that project is complete – in like 2035…

    In the meantime, this is a very good thing for people in Prospect Heights.

  3. Fake What –
    A suburban mindset assumes that people are going to drive every where. A suburban mindset is obsessed with adding parking spaces and accommodating drivers. An urban mindset assumes people are going to walk and take the subway. An urban mindset is more concerned with having cohesive urban fabric and a pleasant city at ground level than pandering to the selfishness of drivers who think they have to the god given right to drag their huge SUV’s anywhere.

    An urban mindest is in favor of street narrowing and greening. A suburban mindset complains about the traffic and wants to kill this project because someone somewhere will double park once and be inconvenient for him.

  4. “This confuses me. The medians stop a block before Atlantic at Pacific. Are you just griping about a different issue and including it here because it’s also on Vanderbilt, or is this somehow related to the medians?”

    The statement “This confuses me.” is because you don”t drive south on Vanderbilt Ave. If you did you would understand that you have to get to Pacific St to turn left.

    “Are you just griping about a different issue and including it here because it’s also on Vanderbilt, or is this somehow related to the medians?””

    I’m gripping because this project ha s created to hazard for Motorists and Pedestrian because when you get to Dean St instead of making that left turn, you try to merge with traffic on the right going up Vanderbuilt. This action causes a bottleneck and slows down traffic there. Heaven forbid a Pedestrian of Bike-rider there, the Motorist will rum them over, trying to merge on to Vanderbilt.

    I drive Vanderbilt Ave EVERY day for the last 17 years. Please don’t come out to attack me saying “You live in Lodi NJ” or other things. This was/is a stpid idea and a waste of Taxpayer (Asshat) money….

    The What

    Someday this war is gonna end….

  5. Dandy on Vandy. Wish I still lived over there. What process did they go through to have these put in- who was their sponsor? We need those people to help us out over on 4th ave, where there are plenty of median, but which are badly maintained, with no good place for pedestrians who get stranded.

  6. Well done!
    This is a major thoroughfare for people who depend on bikes to visit other parts of Brooklyn for work and leisure.

    Good job city, and good job T.A. for finally getting the city to focus on liveable streets!

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