In light of another fatal crash that tragically ended the life of a 31-year old neighbor on April 16 at the intersection on Atlantic Avenue and Clinton Street, we, the undersigned elected officials and community leaders, are calling on the Department of Transportation to immediately implement safety improvements on Atlantic Avenue from 4th Avenue to Furman Street.

Over the last decade, we have lost four neighbors to traffic violence on this very block, including the death this week of Katherine Harris. In the past 5 years, the corridor has seen 94 pedestrian injuries, 72 cyclist injuries, and over 500 crashes. For years, our community has demanded meaningful pedestrian safety and traffic calming efforts to make Atlantic Avenue safe. As a vision zero priority corridor, we ask that DOT take immediate steps to slow and calm traffic and prioritize the safety of pedestrians crossing Atlantic Avenue. Collectively, we urge DOT to implement the following interventions as quickly as possible:

• Install mid-block traffic lights to slow traffic and create more efficient pedestrian crossings
• Redesign pedestrian crossings using “daylighting” and/or raised crosswalks to improve pedestrian visibility. Raised crosswalks were specifically recommended by community members of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Task Force (empaneled in 1999) for the intersections of Atlantic and Hicks, Atlantic and Henry, and Atlantic and Clinton. DOT refused to pilot them at that time. We urge DOT to evaluate this anew.
• Extend the curbs at intersections to calm traffic
• Redesign the sidewalk and pedestrian space surrounding the BQE entrance/exit ramps near the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park

We are aware that DOT is undertaking a mid-block crossing study this coming summer, but we cannot wait for yet another crash to happen before interventions are made to make Atlantic Avenue safer. Moving forward, we ask that DOT immediately prioritizes the avenue by pursuing our requested interventions and other strategies to ensure the safety of our community. Finally, we note that the driver was intoxicated. We appreciate the Commissioner’s support for Assembly Member Simon’s bill (A.1627) to lower the permissible blood alcohol content level to .05 and encourage the City to do everything in its power to support this life-saving measure. We look forward to hearing from DOT on a timeline for immediate and long-term changes to Atlantic Avenue. Please do not hesitate to contact us directly with any questions.

Sincerely,

Read the press release here.