CARNEGIE HILL — The city is going to make it easier for drivers and pedestrians to get in and out of Central Park, targeting areas where officials say traffic jams and accidents have become the norm.
Traffic snarls along East 96th and East 97th streets, between Madison and Fifth avenues, are familiar experiences for both drivers and pedestrians, and the Department of Transportation is hoping a series of changes, including adding and removing left-hand turns, will relieve some of the congestion.
These four intersections have had a total of 74 injuries from accidents since 2009 — at least 20 of those were pedestrians and at least 23 were motorists, according to the city's Vision Zero data.
By adding and removing certain left turns, re-striping lanes and making crossings shorter by installing pedestrian islands, the DOT promises to improve traffic flow.
In a few weeks, the DOT will reduce the number of left-turn lanes on the east side of Fifth Avenue at East 96th Street from two to one. And a new eastbound lane will be added to 96th, just before the Central Park transverse ends, to eliminate bottlenecking there, according to DOT representatives who presented a plan to Community Board 8's transportation committee on April 6.
In addition, a dedicated left-turn lane will be added to the intersection at East 96th Street and Madison Avenue for cars turning north, the plans show.
And since 96th Street at Madison Avenue has a heavy amount of traffic turning right to get to the park via 97th Street, the DOT plans to add another right-turn-only lane on 96th, east of Madison Avenue.
Madison Avenue will also get a left-turn light and a dedicated lane for vehicles turning left onto East 97th Street, the plans say.
The changes will affect buses as well. Now, when making a left, the M96 has to make a wide turn into the intersection from 97th onto Fifth Avenue, blocking other cars from getting through in the process.
It takes the M96 bus seven-and-a-half minutes to go three blocks, from Lexington to Fifth avenues, according to officials.
To make it easier for bus drivers to get to the 97th Street bus stop, the DOT plans to add a rush hour bus lane to 97th in a space that is currently a "no parking anytime" section, according to the DOT.
"The bus lane will help the bus pull into the bus stop, improve bus speed and reliability and will keep the curb clear during rush hour, which benefits adjacent traffic," a spokeswoman said.
Problems get worse during rush hour, when eastbound traffic in the area backs up into the park and vehicles block intersections, forcing pedestrians to weave around the cars to cross the street, officials said.
To address this issue, curbs will be extended at 10 corners at the four intersections, and a pedestrian island will be installed between the east- and westbound lanes on the east side of Madison Avenue at East 96th Street, the plans show.
But some residents were concerned that extending curbs would make it more dangerous for pedestrians.
“I’ve never been comfortable with [that], and if you’re out on the street, you’ll see I’m not wrong. You will find pedestrians in the middle of the street much more quickly, leaving less space for cars to turn and then the cars back up."
► The East 96th Street subway station had 300,000 more commuters in 2015.
At 97th and Madison, a period dedicated for pedestrian crossing only will be added, the DOT says.
CB 8 voted to approve the project on April 20, and Community Board 11 approved the plan in March. The changes would be implemented in May, according to a DOT spokeswoman.
