Could an Old Design Create a Safer Central Park?

The deaths of two pedestrians in New York City's Central Park last summer made even longtime residents look sidelong at their beloved back yard. Within two months of each other, Irving Schachter, 75, and Jill Tarlov, 58, were killed after being struck by cyclists along the park's roadways, where people on foot, bikes, skateboards, and pedicabs all jockey for right-of-way. In response, the park lowered its speed limit and installed new pedestrian-crossing signs in December.

But many advocates feel that a safer park won't truly be possible until the park's design is more deeply reconsidered. In September, one official at the mayor's office suggested to the New York Times that Frederick Law Olmsted's and Calvert Vaux's original 1850s plan may be partly to blame, "observing that, on the southwest portion, many of the most popular features are inside the loop, forcing pedestrians to cross where it is most congested and perhaps creating more collisions."