Culture
New York City Seeks the 'Holy Grail' of Street Design
Why do some intersections have such high pedestrian injury rates? It’s not all about the number of cars.
In 2011, there were 15 injury-causing crashes at Seventh Avenue and West 23rd Street in New York City. Nine involved pedestrians struck by vehicles. The intersection boasts one of the highest rates of pedestrian pain anywhere in the city. So city traffic engineers targeted the Manhattan crossroads for a major safety improvement project in 2013.
Once an open concourse of unseparated car lanes, Seventh Avenue now has two high-visibility pedestrian safety islands and specially marked left turn lanes squeezed between islands and curb. Left turns are banned altogether on one side of 23 Street, and all four corners of the intersection have audible crosswalk signals.