Brooklyn's Berry Open Street: Upgrading for Safety & Permanence

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8 ай бұрын

About a month ago I was riding down Brooklyn's Berry Street and unexpectedly saw the street undergoing a long-gestating transformation by NYC DOT. I took a few photos and got in touch with some volunteers of the North Brooklyn Open Streets.
They let me know that the conversion would be mostly done by the end of October and that a perfect time to stop by might be during their Berry Spooky Halloween Event. So since it didn't rain on a Saturday for the first time in 7 weeks I went over with my family and did a brief stop to look at what's going on.
A few things stand out: 1) NYC DOT painted a good deal of intersections with a "coral" coloring to emphasize heightened awareness of all modes. It is the first use of its kind in NYC. 2) Most intersections have now implemented impressive daylighting treatments with rock boulders, Citibike stations, beautiful flower pots, bike parking & more to keep visibility. 3) Many of the street directions for cars (which should be traveling about 5mph) reverse direction almost every other block. Keeping thru traffic off. 2-way bicycle/micromobility is still retained through signage and street markings.
All in all another good example of NYC DOT attempting some innovative things on open streets and bike boulevards in the city.

Пікірлер: 40

@PeterPeirce-pv3mm 8 ай бұрын

Looks amazing! And it shows that open streets aren't about "no cars", it's about prioritizing people. Cars still exist, but they're tools and they can coexist safely with pedestrians. Keep them slow, and prioritize loading and unloading, not parking.

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

That is what a complete street not a local traffic only street is.

@MonsieurRaki 8 ай бұрын

This warms my Dutch little heart! Streets should be safe for everyone and not designed just for cars. Go New York!

@LimitedWard 8 ай бұрын

Somehow New York managed to retain at least some of its Dutch DNA.

@jimbo1637 8 ай бұрын

Thankfully, it seems NYC has finally woken up to the fact that dedicating as much road space as physically possible to cars doesn't make sense in a city where most people don't even own them. I'm hopeful that with a couple of decades of street upgrades, one day we'll look like your cities do!

@StreetfilmsCommunity 8 ай бұрын

This will even warm you more (and in the 10 months since I put it together it has just gotten more plazas, murals, and car-free!) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pLOqobyZmbyafXk.html

@MonsieurRaki 8 ай бұрын

@@StreetfilmsCommunity I saw that video. Great for the people, hopefully those changes will become more permanent with actual safe road design. For now the Seville inspired plaza's will work.

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

If you want to be dutch convert to traditionalist Roman Catholicism.

@realityblooms Ай бұрын

Berry street is my tourist destination when I visit nyc

@yonatanschlussel 6 ай бұрын

It's amazing to see how cities in the US are improving

@kai663 8 ай бұрын

I think daylighting is one of the most important changes we need to makes for streets in the 5 boroughs to improve safety for not just for pedestrians, but cars as well.

@StreetfilmsCommunity 8 ай бұрын

It certainly is. For safety and as a side effect also removing free parking.

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

Daylighting isn't radical. However the car parking spaces on 34th Avenue need to be restored for car owning residents and they take up little space in return unlike those Citi Bike Share racks that nobody wants not even the biking and transit dependent public.

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

One Citi Bike rack equals the space for 3 cars and 24 private bike parking spaces. I say 2 car spaces and 12 private bike spaces. A win for people.

@TheRailLeaguer 6 ай бұрын

⁠⁠@@mapgar1479That’s not how it works, and clearly the need for parking along 34th Avenue is very low so no need to fret.

@tomreingold4024 8 ай бұрын

I love, love, love this. This past summer, I worked on 34th Avenue in Queens which has been like this for years. The people enjoy it so much and in so many ways. And why not? The streets are our streets.

@StreetfilmsCommunity 8 ай бұрын

34th Avenue! Lots of good stuff in here and it has only gotten better in the 10 months since I made this! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pLOqobyZmbyafXk.html

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

@@StreetfilmsCommunity Think about all traffic including city busses and private cars but especially city busses.

@TheRailLeaguer 6 ай бұрын

@@mapgar1479Traffic is fine as it is, considering that city buses have never used 34th Avenue (the Q49 bus uses 35th Avenue instead).

@josiahclagett7369 8 ай бұрын

Everybody just looks so happy! The energy is palpable. Way to go Berry team, and thanks for documenting Streetfilms crew.

@zedlyfe 8 ай бұрын

This makes me so happy. Sadly I moved from NYC to SF 2 months ago, but used to live off Berry

@yippee2000 8 ай бұрын

We need this NOW, in every borough, in every neighborhood, on every commercial block. We also need daylighting....protected bike lanes, and ENFORCEMENT against scofflaw drivers behaviors such as double-parking, idling in bus stops, 'parking' in bus lanes and bike lanes, parking over entire crosswalks, etc. The future of big cities (such as NYC) is not nor cannot be private-use vehicles all over the place, and which are often used solely for the driver's 'convenience' (not out of any true need, but rather out of laziness, habit and entitlement). We've got too many cars.... cars that are grossly oversized (and far deadlier to peds/cyclists)....cars that typically contain a SINGLE passenger....drivers that are not being Judicious in When, Where and WHY they are starting their engines in the first place, etc. Time for NYC to look to the FUTURE (which many other 'world-class' cities have already done, at a far faster rate than us).

@fortune500b 8 ай бұрын

This is nice but I wish they’d shut down Bedford instead

@KJSvitko 8 ай бұрын

More bicycles, more people and less cars. Open Streets are great. Make your city better for people. Talk to your local elected officials and city planners.

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

"Open Streets" A.K.A. car-free streets being overdone has made New York City, London, Paris, Madrid, and Oxford worse for people becuase the barricaded design of the major streets make it impossible to use their own vehicles when they want to. I want all options not just walking, biking, and transit.

@TheRailLeaguer 6 ай бұрын

⁠@@mapgar1479That’s not how any of it works, since nobody is overdoing car-free streets and Open Streets. Plus you will still have your options.

@kubrabenelli9117 7 ай бұрын

Maybe people streets is a better name

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

Just call the street what it is. A car-free street. Therefore I think it should not be a car free street but a car-inclusive bicycle boulevard that blocks through traffic unless the vehicle is non-motorized.

@Lobsterman5481 8 ай бұрын

NYC creating more traffic.

@StreetfilmsCommunity 8 ай бұрын

Indeed MORE bike and pedestrian traffic. Which is a great thing.

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

@@StreetfilmsCommunity No! It has created more car traffic. Americans and Europeans alike won't ditch their cars and we will go to war if we need to like what the bladerunners in London are doing to the privacy infringing U.L.E.Z. Tracking cameras.

@mapgar1479 7 ай бұрын

What we need is options not requirements.

@TheRailLeaguer 6 ай бұрын

@@mapgar1479You do realize that what the DOT is doing gives people more options, right?