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Read the press release here.

City's Street Safety Improvements on UWS Don't Go Far Enough, Advocates Say

By Emily Frost | September 11, 2014 12:24pm
 The group Neighborhood in the Nineties would like to see pedestrians get more time to cross the intersection at West 97th Street and Riverside Drive. 
The group Neighborhood in the Nineties would like to see pedestrians get more time to cross the intersection at West 97th Street and Riverside Drive. 
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Aaron Biller

UPPER WEST SIDE — A local advocacy group is pushing the city to do more to safeguard pedestrians along the West 90s on Riverside and West End Avenue — asking for speed humps, stop signs and a 20 mph slow zone to improve safety near schools in the area.

While the Department of Transportation is already making changes to West End Avenue, including adding new pedestrian islands, the advocacy group Neighborhood in the Nineties says more is needed after a spate of recent accidents involving pedestrians. 

"We have a lot of schools in the area and we are very concerned about schools," the group's president, Aaron Biller, said. "Children are often crossing roads that do not have stop signs."

The elementary schools P.S. 75 and West Side Montessori are located along the corridor, among others.

The recommendations, which were presented to Community Board 7 Tuesday, include:

► Adding five speed bumps on the Riverside Drive side road between West 91st and 95th streets. 

► Adding speed bumps between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue along West 92nd and 93rd streets. 

► Creating a 20 mph slow zone on Riverside Drive, as well as on the side streets and service road, between West 91st and 95th streets.

► Giving pedestrians extra time for crossing at Riverside Drive and West 97th Street. 

► Adding stop signs at the corners of West 93rd and 94th streets on Riverside Drive, before the Joan of Arc park island.

► Signage alerting vehicles on the West 95th Street exit ramp from the Henry Hudson Parkway that they are entering city streets and that no right turns on red lights are allowed. 

CB7's transportation committee agreed to investigate the proposals next week so members could sign off on the recommendations and send them to the DOT.

"Some of the things here are small potatoes that we could pick off and get done," said committee co-chairman Dan Zweig.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Transportation said the department was aware of the concerns and was reviewing the suggestions.