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10-Second Delay at Adams St. Traffic Light Will Allow Better Bus Turns: DOT

By Alexandra Leon | February 17, 2016 5:24pm
 A B38 bus crosses from the curbside stop on the Adams Street service road to the main roadway to make a left turn at Fulton Street as a B41 approaches.
A B38 bus crosses from the curbside stop on the Adams Street service road to the main roadway to make a left turn at Fulton Street as a B41 approaches.
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DNAinfo/Alexandra Leon

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Southbound traffic on Adams Street at Fulton Street could be delayed by 10 seconds to give buses more time to make left-hand turns from the service road.

A 10-second delay for the main roadway would give at least two buses enough time to get to the left turn lane without having to weave through traffic from the main road, the Department of Transportation said at a Tuesday night Community Board 2 meeting. 

The buses, which stop at the curbside lane on the west side of the Adams Street service road, currently have to cross over three lanes of traffic to get to the left-hand turn signal at Fulton Street.

“The existing conditions as described are not ideal for buses and they’re not ideal for pedestrians,” said DOT project manager Jeremy Safran.

About 50 buses per hour travel southbound down the Adams Street service road during peak hours, according to the DOT. 

More than 3,000 riders board the buses at the Fulton Street stop, which services the B25, B38 and B52, the DOT said. The B41 and B103 also have stops along the Adams Street service road.

Safran called the turn at Fulton Street a “precarious move” for the buses that fill up the service road, saying the DOT Vision Zero proposal would make conditions safer for pedestrians and drivers. 

Between 2010 and 2014, there have been five pedestrian injuries and seven bus crashes near the intersection, according to the DOT. 

NYPD records show three crashes on Adams Street at Fulton Street in that time period involved buses that failed to yield to a car with the right of way. None of those crashes resulted in injuries or fatalities.

Safran said the signal delay would also improve overall traffic flow for the heavily trafficked area by Borough Hall.

“The Fulton Mall intersection is the bottleneck really, and if we could hold some traffic from queuing up at the Fulton Mall intersection, it will lessen the bottleneck,” he said.

The DOT plans to implement the signal delay in the spring. The agency would add signage at the intersection warning drivers on the main roadway of a delayed green signal.

CB2’s transportation committee voted in favor of the DOT’s proposal, with the condition that the signal delay go through a six-month test period.