HUDSON HEIGHTS — Advocates who pushed for pedestrian-friendly traffic measures in Northern Manhattan are one step closer to their goal, after the Department of Transportation approved an application for a neighborhood slow zone in Hudson Heights.
The approved zone, which is expected to be implemented west of Broadway from West 181st Street to Fort Tryon Park, is one of 15 announced by Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Jannette Sadik-Kahn on Oct. 10. The area will see its speed limit lowered to 20 miles per hour when implemented in 2016. The area will also get new speed bumps and street signs.
Advocates have pointed to research that shows the rate of pedestrian fatalities fall significantly when speed limits are reduced from 30 miles per hour to 20.
Speeding has been a major concern for the area. In the spring two speed bumps were installed near P.S. 87 Hudson Cliffs, a major school in the area, after the DOT determined that 97 percent of drivers within a quarter-mile radius of the school were speeding. Community Board 12 voted in favor of the slow zone in May.
Residents and community groups in the area have been pushing for the slow zone to be implemented. A DOT spokesman said previously that once the application was approved, a public meeting would be held to determine the exact zone location.
The northwest section of Inwood received one of the city's first reduced speed designations in 2012.
