‘Daylighting’ savings time in NYC: DOT to redesign intersections to limit vehicle parking and improve cyclist safety

The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) will redesign intersections throughout the city to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety, the agency said on Wednesday.

The design will incorporate a new “hardened daylighting” approach, featuring physical structures such as barriers, granite blocks and planters in the street to prevent vehicle parking near corners.

DOT officials say nearly 50% of all traffic fatalities occur in intersections, so the new design aims to improve visibility between pedestrians, cyclists and turning vehicles.

“Redesigning our streets under Vision Zero has helped us reduce traffic deaths to historic lows—but we are always looking for new ways to keep people safe,” NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said. “Using barriers to clear space at the intersection will help ensure pedestrians, cyclists and turning vehicles can see each other and enhance safety. We look forward to rolling out the design at high-crash locations starting this year.”

Rollout in Brooklyn

DOT plans to incorporate a new hardened daylighting design for high-crash intersections along new and existing conventional bike lanes.Credit: NYC DOT

The agency plans to roll out the plan at a limited number of specific high-crash intersections along new and existing conventional bike lanes across the city starting in 2025. Initial locations are in Brooklyn and include:

Ocean Avenue at Church Avenue

Ocean Avenue at Avenue J

Ocean Avenue at Cortelyou Road

Ocean Avenue at Foster Avenue

Avenue J at Bedford Avenue

Rugby Road and Foster Avenue

The locations were chosen based on several criteria, including in Tier 1 and Tier 2 priority investment areas as defined by the city’s Streets Plan. These are areas that have seen “historic underinvestment” in safe street infrastructure, new or existing conventional bike lanes with a history of turning crashes, or locations with a high number of truck turns.

The agency explained that the plans will be “context-specific” and have limitations based on the layout of the intersection.

The DOT’s daylighting study from Jan. 17 showed safety benefits tied to hardened daylighting, though the agency said it will monitor installations for efficacy and safety.

amNewYork reached out to several transportation safety organizations for their comments on the plan.

Jackson Chabot, director of advocacy and organizing at Open Plans, applauded DOT’s effort, but said more needs to be done in terms of passing legislation to add more safety measures at intersections.

“We always like to see DOT rethinking intersections, especially the very dangerous ones. And any project that builds in daylighting is going to be a win for us,” Chabot said. “But what’s really on our wish list is Intro 1138, which would mandate 1,000 hardened intersections a year. That pace is going to get us there much quicker. Again, this is a great first step or option for some areas. But we’d love to see some simpler hardening at a quicker pace. Our hope is that Intro 1138 can provide a way to achieve that.”

But Janet Schroeder, co-founder of the NYC e-Vehicle Safety Alliance, said the DOT should focus more on the safety of those who are hit by e-bikes “as they do on grabbing up as much street space as possible,” citing “block-long” Citi Bike racks and bike lane expansion.

“None of this changes the egregious rider behavior of e-vehicle riders who continue to ride with complete impunity,” she said. “DOT should also stop quoting completely skewed e-vehicle crash statistics because the majority of e-vehicle crashes with injuries aren’t reported.”

Meanwhile, according to the NYPD, collisions involving all vehicles, including bikes and motorized two-wheelers, are down year to date, from 39,350 in 2024 to 35,110 this year.