Safety Upgrades Coming To These Streets Near NYC Schools, Mayor Says

NEW YORK, NY — Students heading to more than a dozen schools across the five boroughs will feel safer walking the streets as they return to classrooms this fall, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

The mayor announced Wednesday that 10 intersections near city schools will be redesigned before the end of the year, part of a line-up of more than 100 street projects for 2022 in his $900 million street safety plan.

The redesigns will focus on dangerous intersections in underserved neighborhoods, Adams said.

“We will never compromise the safety of our students and young people, and equity will always be at the core of our work to protect them,” the mayor said.

At the forefront of the mayor's announcement was a redesign in Uptown Manhattan led by students attending an after-school program, who discovered frequent speeding and reckless driving along an Amsterdam Avenue stretch that neighbors seven schools.

The students helped design a plan for new pedestrian islands, speed cushions, curb extensions and bike lanes.

The new safety measures are meant to reduce speeding on Amsterdam and St. Nicholas Avenues between West 188th Street and Fort George Avenue.

Details were more scarce for the rest of the school-focused street safety upgrades, but the city did unveil where they will take place.

The Bronx

• East 165th and 167th Streets between Prospect Avenue and Simpson Street in Foxhurst
• Boone Avenue between West Farms Road and Freeman Street in Foxhurst
• East 158th Street and Cauldwell Avenue in Woodstock

Brooklyn

• Chauncey Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Bed-Stuy
• Linden Boulevard and Atkins Avenue in East New York

Queens

• Rockaway Boulevard between Sutphin and Farmers boulevards in South Jamaica
• 34th Avenue (Open Street) from 69th Street to Junction Boulevard in Jackson Heights

Staten Island

• Martha Street and Howard Avenue in Sunnyside
• Elson Court and Jules Drive in Graniteville

The school-focused projects are among more than 100 total street redesigns that will be completed before the end of the year, according to the city. Patch has asked for a list of locations for all 100-plus redesigns.

The mayor's $900-million street safety plan was first announced in April, just days after studies showed a spike in traffic fatalities at the start of 2022.

The 44-percent surge in the first few months of the year made it the deadliest start to any year since the city launched its Vision Zero safety effort in 2014, the data shows.

Overall, traffic fatalities this year are on pace to eclipse those in 2021 — the city's deadliest year since Vision Zero, data shows.