We recently received the following thoughtful email about the GAP redesign providing specific issues and possible solutions for the currently existing design:
As a long time resident of Prospect Heights and a civil engineer as well as a pedestrian, cyclist, and driver, I’m very concerned about the proposed changes.
First, beyond any of the physical changes, there is the issue of equity. This intersection was fully overhauled about a dozen years ago and major improvements were made on Vanderbilt Avenue not that long ago. They made Underhill Ave horribly confusing. And they’re studying even more changes. The DOT should be focusing their efforts on neighborhoods with more dire needs. I expect more equitable attention from this administration.
The DOT is framing this as a way to connect the park around the fountain and monument to Prospect Park. But at what cost? As a pedestrian who accesses the park on an almost-daily basis, I don’t see this as an improvement.
The proposal moves the bulk of the traffic to the north and east side of the monument. There would be a seven-lane by four-lane intersection at the north side of the fountain. This is worse than any of the current crossings. This is type of horrible suburb intersection that we Brooklynites tend to complain about when we leave the city. Whereas everywhere else, especially Europe, engineers are using traffic circles to eliminate congestion, this proposal is to remove one.
The intersection by the library also gets worse with six undivided lanes to cross in one direction.
This proposal will further back up traffic in Park Slope, especially along Union St and 8th Ave, and divert it into Prospect Heights. Thoroughfares exist for a reason: to move vehicles including the trucks that deliver our food and the cab you take to the airport without going through quieter neighborhood streets.
Grand Army Plaza brings together six major thoroughfares at the center of Brooklyn: Flatbush Ave (north), Vanderbilt Ave, Eastern Parkway, Flatbush Ave toward Flatbush, Prospect Park West, and Union St. It also includes six more streets if you count the ones feeding into Plaza Street: Butler Pl (where I live), St Johns Pl (east), Eastern Parkway North Service Road, Berkeley Pl, Lincoln Pl, and St Johns Pl (west). Twelve streets into one intersection. City planners have known for years that a traffic circle is the best way to handle this. This circle even goes around a large cultural monument which is quite rare in the US. This intersection serves as the primary connection around Prospect Park and the Library-Museum-Botanic Garden cultural block to connect the neighborhoods on opposite sides. Instead the city is proposing a convoluted mess with massive, suburban intersections. This is not an improvement.
I will grant that there are improvements that could be made, but these don’t require major work. Here are my thoughts. Most are relatively simple tweaks to the existing arrangement.
- Work with Google Maps (and other map services) to treat Grand Army Plaza as the traffic circle it is. Currently, the directions are very confusing. They don’t have to be. Clearer directions eliminate confusion which increases safety.
- Leave the green light a few seconds longer to allow cars to clear the section between the monument and the park so cars don’t stop there. This isn’t really a safety issue, but it’s nicer to cross when there aren’t any cars there.
- Make Union Street one way going East (uphill) to alleviate the back ups into Park Slope. It would also help if they got rid of the signal delay at the intersection at 8th Ave.
- Continue only one lane of southbound (uphill) traffic on Vanderbilt Ave until Plaza St. This would prevent drivers from speeding up at Sterling like they tend to do today. The centerline street tress should also continue up to Plaza St.
- Change the left turn signal onto Plaza East into a flashing yellow when the through traffic is green so cars don’t back up into the intersection.
- Replace the flashing red at the Eastern Parkway service road with a stop sign or a conventional red-yellow-green stop light. The flashing red is confusing and confusing is dangerous.
Furthermore, the plans to occupy the opened space mostly include a lot of trees. I love trees, but it would diminish the open plaza nature and sightlines to both the monument and the park entrance features.
If you agree, please speak up. If you would like to learn more, here’s the link to the DOT site: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/grandarmyplaza.shtmlThe survey is open until May 31.