If you frequent McCarren Park, you’re likely familiar with the area of Bedford Avenue where the tennis courts end and the baseball fields begin, bifurcated by the street. It’s a natural place to cross, but one that requires jaywalking (a time-honored, but not entirely safe hallmark of city living).
The city’s Department of Transportation just made it a little easier for pedestrians to pass with a new crosswalk in the middle of the street.
“McCarren Park is a popular destination for recreation, though its long blocks mean visitors often must walk far distances to cross the street safely,” a DOT spokesperson told Greenpointers. “This new mid-block crossing will make it significantly easier to access nearby tennis courts and ball fields while also enhancing safety by better managing traffic through the corridor.”
According to Reddit, work crews have already started making adjustments to the street.
I walk by and through here several times a day. I live on one end and work on the other. I play tennis at the courts on one end and baseball/softball at the fields on the other. I drive there too, regularly. I’ve lived in the area for 22 years, in both WB and GP. I would be hard-pressed to think of a stretch in the neighborhood that needs a formal crossing less than this one. Sure cars hit the gas in this stretch, that’s well-known, especially if they see a green light ahead at Bedford and Berry, but one can easily see them coming when you’re by the courts, the fields or the HS. Does the DOT actually think people are walking up to that 3-cornered intersection where Bedford and Berry meet just to cross? What city to do they live in? The problem will be that pedestrians will rely on the good faith of motorists, bikes and e-bikes to stop or slow-down rather than on their eyes and their commonsense, not to cross when there’s a car or bike coming. Of course the area is full of stretches where crossing on your own is unsafe, and fatalities have proven that. But this is not even close to one of them…