By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN -- As Brooklyn mourns a lost child, residents wonder if a solution for a gauntlet of deadly Downtown intersections will ever be found.

Eight-year-old Alexander Toulouse, out for a bike ride with his dad Saturday afternoon, was struck and killed by a mail truck at the corner of Boerum Place (Adams Street) and Livingston Street -- one of several intersections in Downtown Brooklyn with over-the-top pedestrian accident rates.

Alexander, a third-grader at P.S. 29 in Cobble Hill, was following his father as the pair rode north on Boerum Place/Adams Street in the direction of the Brooklyn Bridge. According to published reports, Alexander was just a few feet behind his father when the Postal Service truck hit him while turning west onto Livingston Street.

The driver was inconsolable after the accident, according to published reports.

Shockingly, statistics compiled and mapped by Transportation Alternatives (crashstat.org) show that motor vehicles struck 39 people -- 28 pedestrians and 11 bicyclists -- at the very intersection where Alexander was killed, in the 10-year period from 1995 to 2005. Figures for the last three years are not available.

While Saturday’s tragedy appears to be just an unfathomable accident, statistics point to an avalanche of accident after bloody accident within a few blocks of each other, year after year.

A half a block east on Livingston Street, eight pedestrians were struck during the same time period; one of them died. A block north, at the notorious Adams/Livingston/Fulton Street intersection, 32 people were struck and injured.

A few steps away, at Adams and Willoughby, 11 people were hit. Next to this, at Fulton and Willoughby, one more. At Fulton near Red Hook Lane, another one.

None of these figures include the wave of more recent deaths and injuries that have occurred at or near the dangerous crossroads of Adams, Joralemon and Fulton streets. This intersection is a major focal point of foot traffic in Brooklyn, linking Borough Hall and Court Street to the Fulton Mall, the Marriott and the rest of the Downtown area.

Numerous schools -- including two public high schools, a private K-12 school, a parochial high school, Brooklyn Law School, City Tech and Polytechnic University -- lie within a three-block radius.

New Traffic Plan Trial

In June, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) started a six-month trial of new traffic patterns at the intersection of Tillary and Adams streets to try and improve pedestrian safety. Changes include modified signal timing, turning prohibitions on Adams and Tillary and the reallocation of traffic lanes.

While DOT says that these changes will result in more crossing time for pedestrians and cyclists, others are worried that the plan will merely rearrange the traffic problem, not eliminate it. The Brooklyn Heights Association, for example, has expressed concern about traffic jams that are occurring in other areas of Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights – such as around Joralemon and Court Streets – as a result of the changes.

Pedestrian Overpass, Underpass Discussed

In 2006, as reported in the Brooklyn Eagle, a concerned parent tried to jumpstart a plan to create a pedestrian overpass at this intersection. “It’s a nightmare,� Callie French, a resident of Brooklyn Heights and the mother of two, said at that time. Four students and one staff member at her daughter’s school were hit during 2005 and 2006 alone.

“My sister, who is disabled with a 4-year-old, will not cross Adams Street. My father won’t stay at the Marriott because of Adams Street, and my mother can’t make it across,� French said.

In spite of an enthusiastic response from several government officials, the overpass was never seriously considered at the time, mainly because of cost. But community insiders say now is the time to take a new look at an overpass – or an underpass – as Downtown Brooklyn booms.

None of this will bring back Alexander Toulouse, or put together a family that has been forever devastated. A memorial of flowers, a Teddy Bear and cards grows at the deadly intersection.

Calls to the Department of Transportation were not returned by press time.

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