BY JACKSON CHEN | To alleviate auto congestion from student drop-offs at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee has asked the Department of Transportation to restrict left turns from the northbound lane of Central Park West at West 93rd Street.
The congestion stemming from Columbia often backs up Central Park West traffic all the way down to West 86th Street, leaving many drivers frustrated as they approach the intersection, according to Emily Altschul-Miller, a neighbor of the school.
Altschul-Miller, who is a part of the a task force that worked to find a solution to the problem, said cars frequently make left turns even from Central Park West’s rightmost traffic lane due to the congestion. The buildup of traffic near the intersection results in impatient drivers illegally making turns while pedestrians attempt to cross the street.
“By the time cars are hitting our streets, they’ve all got road rage,” Altschul-Miller said. “They can have nothing to do with Columbia Grammar, they’re just commuters in the city and they’re blowing through red and yellow lights.”
To address the danger, CB7’s Transportation Committee recommended that the DOT prohibit left turns onto West 93rd Street from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. for drivers going northbound on Central Park West.
According to the committee’s resolution, the new restriction should be a six-month pilot implemented by the DOT, which would then return to the committee to report on the results.
Isabelle Silverman, a Columbia Grammar parent, neighbor, and member of the task force, said the congestion problem is at its worst from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m., when a large number of cars are attempting to squeeze into the school’s street to drop off their kids.
Based on her own count, Silverman said that an average of two cars get to make the left turn onto West 93rd Street during one full traffic light cycle. She conceded that a fair number of cars would be affected by the left turn prohibition, but said the safety benefits far outweigh any burden from having to detour.
“Inconveniencing 48 cars that now have to drop off on CPW or 92nd Street,” Silverman said. “That is nothing compared to the safety we’re gaining by not blocking the box and not blocking the crosswalk.”
With the restriction expected to be implemented by the school’s fall semester, parents would be encouraged to drop their kids off a few blocks away or to come in southbound from Central Park West and make a right turn onto West 93rd Street.
While the committee unanimously agreed that the DOT should go forward with the pilot program, it also recommended that the agency review the bigger traffic picture at the intersection. One suggestion was to incorporate the same left-turn ban during the afternoon hours when vehicles arrive for student pick-ups.
According to Bertha Bauer, a neighbor who’s been long involved in the issue, there should be a 2 to 4 p.m. restriction for left turns at the intersection as well.
“This is a huge mistake just doing this in the mornings,” Bauer said. “In terms of actual incidents, there are more in the afternoon than in the morning.”
According to the New York Police Department’s motor vehicle collisions data, there were 13 incidents at the intersection of Central Park West and West 93rd Street, at various times throughout the day, over the past four years. There was only one incident within the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. time frame, in October 2013, but four incidents in the 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. time frame –– in March 2015, May 2015, June 2015, and December 2015. In the incident last May, a cyclist was injured.
“At least once a week you see a near miss,” Bauer said, “where some impatient parent or chauffeur decides to run the light and make that left hand turn with people in the crosswalks.”
From the perspective of the committee members and Silverman, however, there is a big difference between the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up traffic patterns. Silverman said that during the afternoon cars that are double-parked cut off a lane of traffic, causing the congestion, and that a left turn restriction may cause more cars circling around the neighborhood.
DOT officials said two sets of restricted hours on street signage would be confusing to drivers, but said they would explore afternoon solutions to traffic problems created by students being picked up from the school.
Community members agreed that after years of extreme congestion at the intersection, the morning left turn restriction was something worth the DOT trying.
“I think it’s a good solution, we’ll try it out and see how it is,” said Silverman. “Nobody knows how the drivers will change, but I think it’s very smart to have this trial.”
Representatives of Columbia School could not be reached for comment.
