Gansevoort traffic heading in right direction

Volume 1, Number 49 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | Aug. 24 - 30, 2007

A long-awaited improvement is taking place at the gateway to the Meatpacking District, at Ninth Ave. between 14th and 16th Sts. Department of Transportation construction crews are reworking what residents and community groups have long regarded as one of the most dangerous stretches in the city, improving pedestrian safety and rationalizing a confusing pattern of auto traffic that contributed to the death of an 82-year-old woman on Feb. 5, when she was hit by a truck while crossing 16th St. on the east side of Ninth Ave.

As part of the $200,000 Ninth Ave. Plaza project—which has been billed as an interim solution by D.O.T., C.B. 4 and the Greater Gansevoort Urban Improvement Project (G.G.U.I.P.)—traffic on Ninth Ave. between 14th and 16th Sts. was changed to one-way downtown, continuing south on Hudson St. In addition, D.O.T. is reducing the number of auto lanes while adding a bike lane on Ninth Ave. And it is creating green space and much-needed pedestrian stop-overs by running a large triangular plaza and median up the middle of Ninth Ave. between 14th and 15th Sts.; extending the triangle where Ninth Ave. and Hudson St. intersect, on the south side of 14th St.; and adding a neckdown at the southwest corner of Ninth Ave. and 14th St.

At C.B. 4’s request, D.O.T. is also studying “barnstorming,” a traffic-light timing approach where all pedestrian cross-walks around the intersection of Ninth Ave. and 14th St. (there are seven) would be used simultaneously for short bursts of time. Barnstorming is especially effective at complex intersections such as this one.

By D.O.T.’s own admission, this interim solution is not perfect. The median at the Ninth Ave. and 15th St. cross-walk accommodates too few pedestrians, and placing the attached triangle in the middle of 14th St. at Ninth Ave. still makes for a six-street intersection with confusing traffic-turn options. Preliminary reports indicate that confusing traffic-lighting for cars traveling east on 14th St. across the intersection may also cause false-starts. In their proposed design for the area, due out by September, G.G.U.I.P., in concert with consultant Sam Schwartz and the Regional Plan Association, call for connecting the median and large triangle above 14th St. with the western sidewalk, thereby creating a more user-friendly pedestrian space and eliminating one street from this monstrous intersection. That, along with other proposed ideas, seem like good recommendations for D.O.T. to consider in drafting their final plan for the area, which will be realized in two to three years.

But D.O.T. should be praised for its relatively rapid response to C.B. 4’s initial 2006 request for a southbound-only Ninth Ave., and for the fact that this interim solution accomplishes much of what the community groups have set out to do. And the arrival of new D.O.T. Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who brings a progressive vision to the table, also bodes well for not only the Gansevoort District but the entire city as we embark on Mayor Bloomberg’s PlanNYC 2030 initiative.

We can only hope that D.O.T.’s receptiveness to community input on this stretch of Ninth Ave. and the entire neighborhood will continue, and that the agency will keep working closely with C.B. 4 and G.G.U.I.P. to come up with a grand design worthy of the Gansevoort District, one that meets the needs of all interested parties.