Deadly UES Intersections Must Be Redesigned, Menin Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Following a series of deadly crashes on the Upper East Side, a neighborhood lawmaker is pushing the city to redesign several of the intersections where pedestrians and cyclists have lost their lives.

City Councilmember Julie Menin made the request in a letter last week to Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, laying out five intersections on First and Third avenues that she says are overdue for safety fixes.

Menin's demands come in the wake of four pedestrian deaths that have rocked the neighborhood in recent weeks, starting with the Dec. 13 crash on First Avenue and East 76th Street that killed Salvador Navarrete Flores, a 31-year-old delivery cyclist. Just 12 days later, a truck driver hit and killed Taurino Rosendo Morales and Delfino Eduardo Maceda at the corner of Third Avenue and East 61st Street.

The latest tragedy happened last Monday, when Udeshi Sruti Sundeep — reportedly a kindergarten teacher at the Spence School — was fatally struck while she crossed Third Avenue at East 76th Street.

In 2021, 547 people were injured in a total of 1,413 crashes on the Upper East Side, according to city data. Five people were killed — the neighborhood's highest total since 2018, amid a citywide spike in traffic deaths despite New York's much-publicized Vision Zero campaign.

Acknowledging the "traffic violence crisis," Mayor Eric Adams pledged this month to "reimagine" 1,000 intersections across the city, implementing safety fixes like raised crosswalks, turn signals and "head starts" that allow pedestrians to cross before drivers can turn.

Menin says those fixes should come to the Upper East Side intersections where Morales, Maceda, Sundeep and Navarette Flores were killed. The lawmaker also called for changes at two Midtown East intersections — First Avenue at East 57th and 58th streets — where 22-year-old Norbert Kucharek and 84-year-old James Shields were fatally struck last year.

"We need to invest in our streets to make them safer for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists," Menin said in a statement. "Walking down the street should not be a life or death situation."

Rodriguez, the Transportation Commissioner, has agreed to join Menin on a walk-through of the neighborhood at some future date, according to Menin's office.

Reached for comment by Patch about the proposal, a DOT spokesperson said only that "We appreciate the Council member’s attention to this issue and look forward to reviewing her letter."

Despite the spike in crashes, traffic enforcement on the Upper East Side has dropped precipitously in recent years, as Patch reported last fall. In 2021, the NYPD's 19th Precinct issued just 4,620 moving violations in the neighborhood, compared to 8,944 in 2019.

Menin's call for improvements was echoed by Hindy Schachter, a safe-streets advocate whose husband, Irving, was killed in 2014 by a teenage cyclist in Central Park.

"This horror is something nobody else should have to endure," Schachter said. "With so many crashes happening in our community, we need urgent attention on our streets so they are redesigned for safety and crashes are prevented."

Related coverage:

• Crash Injuries Rise On Upper East Side This Year, Data Shows
• Victim In Upper East Side Crash Identified; Driver Arrested: NYPD
• 2nd Deadly Upper East Side Crash Spurs Calls For Reform
• Upper East Side Crash Victim Memorialized Amid Anger Over Death
• 'Traffic Violence Crisis': City Pledges 1K Safer Intersections