Park Slope Strip of 4th Ave. to be Reduced from 6 Lanes to 4

A plan by the Department of Transportation to redesign Fourth Avenue between Pacific and 15th streets, including reducing the street's travel lanes in each direction from three to two, was approved Wednesday night by Community Board 6.

The changes proposed to the Park Slope section of Fourth Avenue are part of DOT's traffic-calming mission, a push to improve safety along a stretch of road where 53 people were either severely injured or killed between 2007 and 2011. 

The safety proposal brought before the Board Wednesday night was a slightly revised one, as DOT's original plan was rejected in June by Community Board 6 at its general meeting, as some members were concerned with the reduction of northbound lanes and thought the plan eliminated too many left turns. 

The revised plan bans six left turns instead of eight, with Degraw and Butler streets retaining its left turns. Shifting Fourth Avenue from three lanes to two wider lanes will begin north of Carroll Street rather than Union Street. "They're really better lanes," said DOT project manager Jesse Mintz-Roth. "The proposal creates two good lanes… and keeps three lanes where storage is needed." 

Reducing the street's travel lanes and left turns will also allow DOT to widen medians, adding a four-foot painted buffer to the narrow strip pedestrians sometimes find themselves stuck on as vehicles, including commercial trucks, zoom by in both directions. 

Fifth Street, home of M.S. 51, will also see changes, as the DOT plans to paint curb extensions to shorten crossing distances and install speed bumps to the street in response to a request from the school's principal. 
Work on the avenue to implement the upgrades will likely begin in August, a DOT spokesman said. 

Meeting attendees were mostly in favor of the traffic-calming proposal, with some remarking that those against the plan were coming from a "place of emotion," and not looking at the facts that the plan would slow motorists to a safer speed. But those against the plan argued traffic that will no longer be allowed to turn down Third and Ninth Streets will bleed into neighboring side streets. 

Mintz-Roth responded that that will not be the case, as drivers do not always turn onto the street closest to the ban. 

Following the public hearing, Community Board 6's Executive & Transportation/Public Safety Committees recommended the Board approve DOT's revised plan, and made a series of requests of DOT.

Requests included asking DOT to come before the Board before any other changes are made to Fourth Avenue in the future, such as the installment of bike lanes or loading zones. The Board also asked DOT to come back to the Board in one year to discuss the impact the changes have made to the avenue, to look at traffic and pedestrian counts after Third Avenue's Whole Foods opens, and to explore beautification enhancements on medians. 

The full Community Board resolved by a vote of 21 to three, with two abstentions, to approve DOT's proposed redesign of Fourth Avenue between Pacific and 15th streets.