20th Street Truck Route Network Study
Tuesday, March 3rd, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Trucks create safety hazards, congestion, noise, and air pollution on McDonald Avenue, Terrace Place, Caton Avenue, and Church Avenue. These problems are felt by pedestrians, cyclists, drivers of other vehicles, and residents.
Traffic safety comes up often in conversations among residents of Kensington and Windsor Terrace, particularly after a neighbor gets injured or killed. Construction of a new elementary/middle school on Caton Avenue has been another impetus. We talk about our concerns and push our goals at meetings of community boards, the recently-formed grassroots organizations KWT Safe Streets and Windsor Terrace Safe Streets, and in online forums.
Let's see what we can learn from another neighborhood about the process of getting trucks rerouted at Wednesday's meeting in the Windsor Terrace Library. The Department of Transportation (DOT) will present its updated study on alternatives to the 20th Street truck route at a joint meeting with the Transportation committees of Community Board 7 and Community Board 14.
Truck traffic on 20th Street, from 3rd Avenue to 7th Avenue, has been a source of trouble for its residents for years. More than 200 residents signed a petition in 2010 citing property damage and congestion that two-way truck traffic had caused on the narrow street. Then, in February 2010, CB 7 requested that DOT study the truck route to see if the street could be made one-way.
DOT agreed to conduct a traffic study to develop truck route alternatives. The department formulated a plan (20th Street Network Review) that they published in January 2012. Some residents were dissatisfied with it and posted a petition opposing it. The community board then voted against the plan and asked the department to continue studying the problem.
DOT's revised 20th Street Truck Route Study is the latest product of this years-long struggle by residents. It analyzes alternatives for the local-truck route and through-truck route network in the neighborhood, with the goal of improving traffic safety and ameliorating congestion and pollution. Let's see what DOT has come up with.
Meeting location:
Windsor Terrace Library
160 E. 5th Street, at the corner of Fort Hamilton Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11218
(718) 686-9707
http://www.bklynlibrary.org/locations/windsor-terrace