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Pols Say City is Too Slow to Fix Dangerous Upper West Side Intersection

Borough President Scott Stringer and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal called on the city Monday to improve safety around the intersection of West 72nd Street and Broadway.
Borough President Scott Stringer and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal called on the city Monday to improve safety around the intersection of West 72nd Street and Broadway.
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Flickr/Skyliner72

By Leslie Albrecht

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER WEST SIDE — Politicians criticized the city Monday for not moving fast enough to improve safety at one of the Upper West Side's busiest intersections.

Borough President Scott Stringer and State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal say the Department of Transportation isn't moving fast enough to fix safety concerns at West 72nd Street and Broadway and West 71st Street where Broadway crosses Amsterdam Avenue.

The busy crossroads — where several lanes of traffic zip past pedestrian islands and commuters converge at the West 72nd Street subway station — have seen 69 accidents in the last two years, including one fatality, according to the NYPD.

A woman who was hit by a car at West 71st Street and Amsterdam on June 14 remains hospitalized, a spokeswoman for Stringer said. In August 2009, three people were injured when a taxi crashed into the West 72nd Street subway station.

Borough President Scott Stringer at West 71st Street at Broadway, where he called on the city to improve safety at the bustling intersection.
Borough President Scott Stringer at West 71st Street at Broadway, where he called on the city to improve safety at the bustling intersection.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

Rosenthal and Stringer said Monday that the city knows the intersection needs a safety overhaul, but isn't moving fast enough to remedy the problem.

A DOT spokesman said a "sweeping safety redesign" is already underway at the intersection.

"We are already in the process of implementing comprehensive changes at this intersection and others in the area," DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow said in an email.

Solomonow said the DOT plans to reduce crossing distances for pedestrians, change the timing of traffic signals and "simplify street geometry."

Solomonow did not say when those changes would be complete. The DOT must first present its strategy to community boards, Solomonow said.

Stringer and Rosenthal said Monday the DOT is spending too much time studying the problem and not enough time acting to fix it.

"How do you justify an accident a week for the last two years and nothing changes?" Stringer asked Monday as traffic roared past him at a pedestrian island at 71st Street and Broadway.

"If we were calling on them to create a plaza on West 72nd Street, it would be here in a month," Stringer added. "We're asking for a couple of traffic lights. We should not be begging them to do what is right."