Want to talk with NYC DOT about Franklin Avenue? April 2nd

Why the heck do they always have these things when I have class?!  I have a list of things about the size of my arm I'd love to say to the DOT about Franklin. 

If anyone wants to bring up these five things I'd appreciate it. Or at least some of these.

Their slowly starting to. There is currently a campaign going on over on Jay Street.

new guy - Even though it's striped as two lanes, the fact that many drivers already treat it as one lane tells me that the street is too narrow for two lanes (plus parking). One car lane and one bike lane (plus parking), perhaps, but not two car lanes.

If one lane sounds blasphemously not enough to you, two points:

- younger generations are driving less (fact!), so just wait a few years and it'll make sense

- remove a handful of parking spots to stick in a right turn bay or a left turn bay (which will double as an unloading zone in real life) and you've got your "second lane" where/when you need it

Snowfall does a great job of showing how Franklin Avenue would be just fine with one lane for cars.  After the heavier snowfalls, cars make one channel up the middle of the street.  And they go ~20 mph through it.  And yet the world doesn't come to a halt, amazingly.   In fact, the area is a lot more pleasant without idiots ripping through it at 40 mph.

Did anyone go? If so what was discussed?

D'oh!

It's great to hear these ideas! When Franklin Ave comes up at the Community Board meetings, all anyone seems to care about is what will happen with double parking.

There is a bus on Franklin Ave, and bars and restaurants. Large beer trucks double park on Franklin making deliveries.

My wishlist for Franklin would be:

1) Loading zones, especially on the side street corners on the North/East sides. This would be close enough for carting items into businesses without blocking Franklin Ave.

2) Either a bike lane or striping to make Franklin one lane like Classon. Classon is so much easier to ride in now that cars are not racing each other in two lanes. Two lanes on a one way street just brings out aggressiveness in drivers.

3) Franklin is only ok to ride on before Pacific, then it becomes too narrow. Cars race across Atlantic ave. If on the Bedstuy side we could make a left and right turn lane and only one lane into Franklin, I think it would have a calming effect. This could be done by greatly expanding the Franklin sidewalks on the North side of Atlantic.

4) Parking Meters the length of Franklin Ave. They stop at St Johns place or Sterling. This is to help businesses that think their customers arrive by car. Residents should only be able to park in the evening.

5) I believe DOT has some rules about parking on Franklin that is designed to open up the lanes during rush hour. This does not work and only makes cars speed more. Same on Rogers. Eliminate that.

I hope some of you can show up to the meeting, we never seem to hear about these kinds of smart ideas at CB meetings. However we always hear complaints about "there is too much traffic" "cars are honking" "no place to park"

Any guesses as to what the proposed enhancements will be?

I really hope we will be getting the 1-lane striping Classon has.

The only part of this proposal I think is screwy is the no left turn from Atlantic Avenue. That means that after Brooklyn Avenue, the next chance to make a left off Atlantic won't be until Washington. All of that to add an island to the island that already exists? I can see adding additional space on the opposite side of the street. It's the side with bus stops, as well as the shuttle and the train entrance. But getting rid of that left seemingly will do more to screw up traffic trying to head south than to help it. It means that there's no left turn off of Atlantic for almost half of Crown Heights.

The loss of the left turn is a factor that the DOT boffins admitted, but they found that the traffic using that left turn was extremely sparse and certainly could be absorbed easily at Brooklyn or Grand. 

I like the cut in left turns. Maybe that will contribute to fewer people appending through the neighborhood.