The Latest on the Delancey Street Safety Improvement Project

The latest Community Board meeting on the topic took place on October 15th, where representatives from several participating agencies presented their updates and answered questions from the audience.

The project stretches from Chrystie to Clinton Street, all along Delancey. The purpose is to impose a 'road diet' - small modifications to a street that naturally slows drivers and eases points of conflict between pedestrians, bikes, and cars.

Chrystie to Allen are to have their pedestrian medians expanded as well as the addition of a dedicated one-way (east-bound) bike lane, where there currently is none.

The medians on Allen to Suffolk will now have dedicated pedestrian space alongside a newly renovated and raised two way bike lane.

There will also be a number of general improvements across the entire Delancey median, such as 27 new trees, new LED street lamps, bike ramps, and 15 benches. Some sidewalks north and south of Delancey will get 'bulbouts', which are sidewalk extensions into the street that, by taking one through-lane for cars, shortens crosswalk distances for pedestrians and often creates a new parking lane.

These are the results, but what will it take to get there? First, lots of time. If all goes according to plan, construction will begin Fall of this year and end Fall of 2029. Part of the reason for the long timeline is beyond the mostly surface level and aesthetic changes described so far - DDC is taking advantage of the road closures to replace 6,000 linear feet of water lines and 800 feet of sewer lines, including a large amount of 100+ year-old pipes.

The construction itself is likely to cause a lot of disruption to traffic patterns. Lane closures, loss of parking, and relocation of bus stops are guaranteed but temporary. Nighttime and weekend work may be necessary, according to DOT and DDC representatives (in other words, also guaranteed).

Despite the broad scope of the project to promote safety across a currently hellish Delancey Street, there was surprisingly no plan to change the biggest pedestrian x bike conflict point, right at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge (pic 7). This small area is a nuisance to pedestrians crossing Delancey on Clinton, often encountering bikers flying down the Bridge at 20-30mph. It's also a safety hazard to the bikers themselves, who if not familiar with the intersection may not realize how quickly they have to slow down after the bridge ends or how many other bikes and pedestrians they may encounter in those fine 30 yards of bike lane. There are general plans to make Delancey Street as a whole more pedestrian oriented and ADA accessible, but this key segment was never mentioned.

The latest Community Board meeting on the topic took place on October 15th, where representatives from several participating agencies presented their updates and answered questions from the audience.