NEWS FROM ASSEMBLYMAN JEFFREY DINOWITZ,

Dinowitz Applauds DOT for Measures to make West 230^th Street Corridor Safer

  After months of continued urging from Assemblyman Dinowitz to implement changes on the West 230^th Street corridor, the Department Of Transportation(DOT) has agreed to implement a left turn signal at the intersection of West 230^th Street and Broadway. According to the 50^th precinct, the traffic corridor has one of the highest traffic incident rates in the area including incidents with serious injury and occasionally deaths. In total 131 independent incidents occurred in 2016 with 61 of those occurring on or near the exit/entrance ramp to the Major Deegan Expressway. Several weeks ago, a pedestrian was struck on Broadway and West 230^th Street as she crossed the street and she later of her injuries.

The intersection of West 230^th and Broadway has been particularly problematic given the awkward configuration of the intersection as it joins in an irregular shape with Exterior street making it difficult to navigate safely for drivers and pedestrians alike.

Assemblyman Dinowitz has called on the DOT to review the entire West 230^th Street corridor from Riverdale to Bailey Avenue. Just last week, the Assemblyman asked DOT to make specific changes at West 230^th Street and Broadway including possibly adding a “no left turn sign” for northbound traffic.

“While the change made is not a “no left turn sign” this is certainly a big improvement. I believe the entirety of West 230^th Street needs to be reexamined. Residents from all over the Bronx use the street to gain access to the Major Deegan and many of them deal with this hazardous situation daily. What happened on Broadway and West 230^th street was a tragedy that must never be repeated,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz. “While it is good that DOT has finally begun to take pedestrian safety on West 230^th and Broadway more seriously, the entire traffic corridor, not just that one intersection, must be examined and safety improved in order to prevent further senseless deaths.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz Applauds DOT/MTA Expansion of Transit Signal Priority, But Asks for More and Sooner

DOT and the MTA say they will add Transit Signal Priority to 550 intersections and 10 bus routes by 2020, and that TSP decreases travel time by 18%. Assemblyman Dinowitz says, “Let’s do more routes and get it done sooner.”

   Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Chairman of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, responded to the NYC Department of Transportation’s Green Means Go: Transit Signal Priority in NYC report with both applause and a request to expand their initiative. The move reflects a request from Assemblyman Dinowitz and his colleagues in Albany contained in a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo dated May 10, 2017 to implement two basic changes that would dramatically improve service: expansion of Transit Signal Priority (TSP) and all-door cashless boarding technology. Transit Signal Priority enables communication between traffic signals and buses to extend a green light or shorten a red light by a few seconds to reduce the amount of time a bus is stopped along its route.

“I am glad that NYC DOT and the MTA arrived at the conclusion that Transit Signal Priority improves bus service. I am glad that they have decided to expand this great program to more routes and more intersections. I do not know why it needs to take until 2020 to make this change, and I do not know why only 10 routes were selected for expansion. Perhaps only 10 routes meet the criteria indicated in their report, but I find that hard to believe,” said Dinowitz. The DOT report said that TSP works best on two-way streets and intersections that do not have complicated cross traffic patterns in addition to streets with existing bus lanes.

Dinowitz added, “It’s good to see the beginnings of change happening in our bus system, which is so important in outer boroughs like the Bronx. Many people rely on buses to get around because they have difficulty using the subway system due to accessibility concerns. I hope that DOT looks at how to accelerate Transit Signal Priority implementation more quickly than 3 years for 10 routes, given that we already have a lot of the required infrastructure installed in our traffic signals.” The DOT report indicates that a new TSP system has been developed using the NYC Wireless Network and new signal controllers, as well as existing GPS technology on buses.