GOWANUS -- Transportation Alternatives announced three winners recently for "Designing the 21st Century Street," an open design competition that challenged New Yorkers to safely accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, trucks and cars on the same "complete street."

In this case, the street was the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street. The contest attracted more than 100 submissions from 13 countries.

“This is a particularly dangerous intersection,� said Wiley Norvell, spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, “because it has a lot of pedestrians coming out of the subway station and a lot of bus routes. Unlike wide intersections in Manhattan, where congestion makes the speeds slow, cars can race down Fourth Avenue most times of the day.�

The winning entries, "Shared Space" by Steven Nutter, "Streets for Everyone" by Rogers Marvel Architects, and "Streets Come Alive" by LEVON, prioritized pedestrians and bicyclists first, while maintaining the street as a transit hub and truck route.

Norvell pointed out that between 1995 and 2005, 55 pedestrians were struck and injured by cars there, 15 bicyclists were struck, and one pedestrian was killed. “Fourth Avenue is a very deadly corridor,� he commented.

One of the ideas of the redesign, Norvell commented, is to not only make the intersection safe, but to make the area a “destination� for walkers.

“Nowadays, if you’re just walking [around Park Slope], you’d walk down to Fourth Avenue, get to the intersection and head back to the Slope. We want to turn it more into a place where you’d want to find out what’s on the other side,� he said.

Jonathan Marvel of Rogers Marvel Architects commented, “We do a lot of projects with streets and with public space. This competition, this important intersection, could be a great template for some of our new ideas.�

One of the objectives, he said, is to create “multi-level� street use. The street would be shared between pedestrians, cyclists and cars – it would not just be for shopping, it would be for gathering and transportation.�

One unusual component of the Rogers Marvel plan is that the bike path would be in the center of the street, not off to the side. “We studied how cyclists use the turning lanes,� said Marvel. “Bikers like to go in straight lines – they don’t like turning. Being in the center allows them to be seen by other vehicles and gives them better protection.�

—Raanan Geberer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net