Photo Credit: Noah Kazis, Streetsblog.org 

One year after the Upper West Side community gathered together and called for immediate action from the City and the Department of Transportation at the dangerous “bow-tie of death” intersection, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer stood again with Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and community activists to demand action on proposed safety redesigns.

The intersection that has come to be known as the “bow-tie of death” is a crossway that spans the long distance of 71st Street between Broadway and Amsterdam. In the last two years, the intersection has seen over 34 accidents, ranks in the 94th percentile for pedestrian crashes and is classified as an NYPD “High Crash Location.”

When the Borough President and Assemblymember Rosenthal called for action a year ago, they received a strong commitment from the Department of Transportation to implement a comprehensive safety redesign of the intersection by the spring. However, a year after DOT pledged to undertake this safety overhaul, that spring deadline has come and gone with only one commitment fulfilled.

“This is déjà vu all over again,” said Borough President Stringer. “One year ago I stood in this exact same spot, calling for these exact same improvements. I wish we could stand here today and point to the City’s swift and thoughtful remediation of this site and its hazards. Crossing this intersection has been like a 100-meter dash against death, while the Department of Transportation continues to move at a snail’s pace.”

“We cannot kick the can on issues that affect the basic safety of our pedestrians, cyclists, and frail elderly,” the Borough President concluded.

Subsequently, the Department of Transportation has pledged to begin work next month on these safety mitigations and has set a new deadline for the end of September.

Read more coverage about this issue on CBS New York and Streetsblog.org.