Critics say Houston St. plan is for the cars

This part of the city’s Houston St. plan received mixed reviews. Some felt that by expanding the Bedford-Houston St. corner, it would calm the traffic and make more room for pedestrians.

By Albert Amateau

The city’s plan for the $25 million reconstruction of Houston St. from Bowery to West St. met with groans and criticism at a crowded Jan. 13 Community Board 2 Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting.

The project, intended to accommodate new water and sewer mains, has been a subject of concern for 10 years among residents, merchants and institutions demanding more pedestrian safety on the east-west thoroughfare that separates Greenwich Village, Noho and the East Village from Soho, Hudson Square and Nolita.

The water main and sewer work is expected to cost $14 million and the roadwork an additional $11 million.

“We’re not opposed to cars,” Sean Sweeney, president of the Soho Alliance, said in a telephone interview. “Many of us have cars, but this ridiculous plan would benefit only through traffic and contractors.”

Representatives of Department of Design and Construction told committee members and neighbors that reconstruction plans could be altered before they are finalized by the end of June.

Brad Hoylman, chairperson of the committee, indicated the committee would submit a detailed criticism of the plan to Community Board 2, which was to meet Jan. 22. In addition to Sweeney, Charle Cafiero, a former C.B.2 member who represents the Noho Community Association, also criticized the plan.

Under the city’s plan, the median at Crosby and Houston Sts. would extend through the intersection blocking northbound Crosby St. traffic. This 2001 picture also shows a median tip, which is proposed to be eliminated at other intersections. Some residents say the tips provide protection for pedestrians as cars turn off Houston St. onto side streets.

Hoylman said at the meeting, one resident called out and said: “ ‘This looks like a solution looking for a problem.’ ” The resident was objecting to the proposal that would add left-turn bays at several busy intersections, remove the tips of medians from a dozen crosswalks and reconstruct the median in most places with planting beds that rise 2 ft. above the street surface. The proposed left-turn bay for eastbound traffic onto the northbound Bowery would add a second lane of left-turn traffic at a dangerous intersection, Shirley Secunda, co-chairperson of the committee, said. The residential and commercial development of the Cooper Sq. Urban Renewal Area sites at the intersection will add many more pedestrians to Bowery and Houston St., Cafiero said.

Neil Scott of Transportation Alternatives also found fault with the proposed Bowery-Houston St. intersection. “The entire redesign of the intersection needs to be rethought,” he said. The left-turn bay and the narrowed median that accommodates it “will make what is already a very dangerous intersection for pedestrians even worse,” he added.

The reconstruction also calls for a narrow median across the intersection of Crosby and Houston Sts., blocking northbound vehicle traffic and eliminating pedestrian crosswalks. Transportation Alternatives called for crosswalks at Crosby St. because that is where pedestrians have long been used to crossing Houston St. The proposed blocking of Crosby St. vehicle traffic at Houston “is a cockamamie idea, just plain crazy,” said Sweeney.

Proposed left-turn bays from the westbound side of Houston onto Mercer St., Broadway and W. Broadway were also considered problems and opposed by Transportation Alternatives and Soho Alliance.

“These bays will make it easier for cars to speed into our neighborhood,” said Sweeney, who is also a C.B. 2 member. “They don’t exist anywhere else in our community board except on the West Side Highway, an interstate route. They’ll turn Houston St. into an interstate road,” Sweeney said.

The plan also calls for another left-turn bay from the eastbound side of Houston St. onto the northbound Lafayette St.

To the chagrin of many, the plan calls for eliminating 12 tiny traffic islands in the medians and near the crosswalks. Residents say the islands or median tips serve as protection for pedestrians waiting in the middle of Houston St. to cross as vehicles turn off the thoroughfare onto side streets. The city proposes to eliminate tips on the west side of Elizabeth St., the east side of Mott St., the west side of Mulberry St., the west side of Lafayette St., the east side of Broadway, the east side of Mercer St. the west side of Greene St., the east side of Wooster St., the west side of W. Broadway, the east side of Thompson St., the west side of Sullivan St. and the east side of MacDougal St.

Chopping off several feet off the ends of the medians at these intersections would take away islands of safety for pedestrians, and also allow vehicles to turn at higher speeds than they do now, said several critics

Opinion was divided on the proposal to nearly double the width of the sidewalk on the south side of Houston St. between W. Broadway and Sixth Ave. Transportation Alternatives supports the wider sidewalk, but Sweeny called it an expensive feature opposed by many South Village merchants and residents.

A redesign of the three-street intersection of Sixth Ave., Bedford St. and Houston St., where Houston narrows and becomes one-way westbound, also generated controversy. The proposal calls for big expansion of the southeast corner of Houston and Bedford Sts. and a widening of the sidewalk by about 3 ft. on the south side of Houston St. where Film Forum and Gilda’s Club are located, a measure welcomed by some residents and opposed by others.

Transportation Alternatives said the redesign of the Sixth Ave.-Bedford-Houston intersection does a good job of calming auto traffic and protecting pedestrians with an extended sidewalk on the northwest corner.

The proposal to add green life with median planters that rise 2 ft. above the street level was the target of critics who said they would be “a wall separating the Village and Soho.”

Albert@DowntownExpress.com