Ban Cars? Debate Intensifies Over Traffic Safety In Central Park

City Council members Helen Rosenthal and Mark Levine have introduced a bill that would ban cars from the loop drives in Central Park for three months next summer. Rosenthal said the ban would be instituted on a trial basis, and perhaps made permanent if traffic jams on surrounding streets don't result.

Rosenthal made no secret of the outcome she's hoping for. "Our hope is to eventually remove cars from Central Park," she said. "This way, we can start with a study, see what the data is, and really see what the impact is on traffic nearby."

Cars are now allowed on the loop during rush hour, and on the southeast part of the drive on weekdays. The proposed ban, which would run from June 24 to Sept. 25, would not affect vehicular use of the transverse roadways that link the east and the west sides of Manhattan through the park.

The legislation comes after two pedestrian deaths in the park this summer, which intensified the debate about dividing up space on the roadway. The pedestrians — 75 year-old Irving Schachter and 58 year-old Jill Tarlov — were not killed by cars. They were killed by bikes. And the crashes occurred at times when cars were not allowed in the park.

But Rosenthal said her bill would help by lessening conflicts on the roadway. "If we would get rid of the car lane, we could then widen the lanes for fast bikers and for slow bikers and make it very clear where people are supposed to be riding their bicycles," she said.

Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives agreed. "The park is just being loved to death," he said. "Skateboarding, running, walking, rollerblading, riding bikes. As long as cars are in the park, it's going to be confusing for people to understand where they're supposed to be on the drive."

Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg isn't commenting on the proposed ban. "I'm not going to answer that question," she said when TN asked her about it at a recent DOT event. "It's not just up to me: we have to consider all the uses of the park, and the stakeholders who live around the park."

Stakeholders like cab drivers have objected to past efforts to ban cars from the Central Park loop. A similar bill died in 2011 when former Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to endorse it. But this is the first proposed ban under Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose Vision Zero plan is focused on drastically cutting down on street deaths.

Trottenberg said she is thinking about changing Central Park's crossing signal system, which uses a timer to change the lights at crosswalks. Trottenberg might install a new system that requires the presence of a pedestrian to trigger a red light for bicyclists. "So when pedestrians aren't there, cyclists can keep going," she said. "They don't have to stop at every light."

She said bicyclists tend to ignore red lights when there are no pedestrians waiting to use the crosswalk. But if those lights turn red when a pedestrian trips a sensor, and only then, bicyclists are more likely to stop — and to get into the habit of stopping when they see a red light. Such a system is now in use in Prospect Park.

Traffic engineer and former DOT commissioner Sam Schwartz likes the idea of a pedestrian-triggered signal system. But he would go further. "The crosswalk itself could be outlined with a series of embedded lights that are flashing on and off, visible even during daytime but especially visible during dark hours." Schwartz said flashing lights in the crosswalk are likely to be noticed, and heeded, even by bicyclists who are moving with their heads down. 

Flashing crosswalks are in use in places like Seattle and East Hampton.