BY JOSH ROGERS | New Yorkers seldom get credit for being a trusting bunch but a visit to traffic-heavy Columbus Circle might present a challenge to that conventional wisdom.
With each light change, dozens of pedestrians cross the east side of Broadway there without the benefit of a visible crosswalk. Cars whipping around Columbus Circle to head up Broadway also do not have a painted line showing where they should stop to avoid ramming into pedestrians.
There is, in fact, a little bit more than faith protecting walkers and cyclists from cars. A traffic light for vehicles is right there, but additional signals like painted crosswalks could help distracted drivers, which is one of the more common reported reasons for crashes at the intersection.
Columbus Circle, which also connects with Central Park South and West, as well as with Eighth Avenue, was the scene of 103 motor vehicle collisions this year through December 26, averaging two a week, according to NYPD statistics posted on the NYC Open Data website. The vast majority did not result in injuries, but seven did — four to bikers, two to pedestrians, and one to a motorist.
“There definitely is conflict there,” Andrew Albert, chair of Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee, said about Columbus Circle.
He hadn’t noticed the missing paint at Broadway and Columbus Circle, but he said it is a problem throughout the Upper West Side, which is why the community board has routinely made traffic safety markings a budget priority request to the city.
Almost all of the other Broadway crossings just north of the circle from 60th to 62nd Streets are mostly faded, although some of those look to be the result of relatively recent street work.
An NYPD traffic officer near the one by Columbus Circle said the crosswalk markings had not been visible there for quite some time, although he shrugged when asked if it posed a problem.
“People already know what it is,” he said of the crosswalk area. “You just wait for the light.”
One source with CB7, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she has noticed the dangers of crossing Broadway near 59th Street and said the faded crosswalk markings are particularly problematic because police cannot ticket drivers for not yielding to pedestrians there because it is not clear the walkers are in a protected area.
Although some crosswalk markings have apparently been neglected, this section of Broadway has actually received extra safety attention under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic fatalities. Last year, Broadway from 59th to 220th Streets was one of the first streets to be designated an “arterial slow zone” with stepped up speeding enforcement and speed limits reduced to 25 miles per hour prior to the speed limit change being made across the board citywide.
In response to an inquiry from Manhattan Express, a spokesperson for the city Department of Transportation said workers would be repainting new crosswalks along Broadway in the spring when the weather is warmer. She said the department has also added crossing time signals at 40 intersections along Broadway.
Monica Blum, president of the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District, said the lack of crosswalk stripings are a problem, but she said the area is getting safer for pedestrians thanks to some steps the DOT has taken.
She said the biggest problem was vehicles turning west off of Broadway onto 60th Street while pedestrians were crossing 60th Street, but that looks to be getting better with some traffic signal adjustments, She’s also hopeful that “ponding” or large puddles in crosswalks will improve with some DOT repairs.
