Quisqueya Plaza In Inwood Is Getting A New Name: DOT Breakdown

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — The recently opened plaza in Upper Manhattan will have a new name this fall.

The area on Dyckman Street between Broadway and Seaman will go from being known as Quisqeuya Plaza to the Dyckman Plaza, representatives from the Department of Transportation said during a Community Board 12 meeting Monday night.

During the CB 12 Traffic and Transporation meeting, the DOT explained that the set up this summer for the public space, which went from an Open Street to the Quisqueya Plaza, was always intended to be temporary.

A number of changes to the Dyckman Plaza design will also happen in the coming months, including the addition of pedestrian walkways, a change in the bike lane location and new programming.

Quisqueya Plaza had its grand opening on July 17. The word is one of the names in the Taino language for the island that is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The area will still now transition to the new Plaza Program, however, the exact rules are still being decided by the city.

What is known for sure, is that the area will continue to be completely closed down to vehicles.

Andrew Ronan and Kimberly Rancourt of the Department of Transportation met with CB 12's Traffic and Transportation Monday to discuss a revised design for the plaza based on what the city agency learned over the summer from studying the Upper Manhattan area.

Here are two graphics provided by the DOT breaking down how it plans to revise the initial plaza design.

The major differences between the two designs are the addition of two new pedestrian crosswalks along the bike path on either side of the plaza to "reduce bike/pedestrian conflicts at intersections," and the merging of the bike lane and the FDNY lane to create more space on the south side of the plaza.

The plaza has been and will continue to be run in part by a group of nearby local restaurants. The current DOT agreement allows for the restaurants to operate outside from noon to 11 p.m. and use up to 80 percent of the seating for their business.

The exact rules for the updated plaza guidelines are not yet agreed upon by the city, but the DOT representatives told Community Board 12 that similar hours and seating options should be expected.

The city agency is also working on adding more public seating in the plaza.

Making Seaman Avenue 2-Way

Another major topic of discussion during the meeting on Monday night was making Seaman Avenue between Dyckman and Riverside a two-way street.

To build the second lane, the city will remove four parking spots on the west side of the street, with parking still available on the east side of the road.

A

A major proposed benefit of making the street two ways is relieving traffic pressure on Henshaw Street, but multiple people within the meeting mentioned there was some worry about cars safely making the sharp right turn they would now have to deploy to turn right from Riverside onto Seaman.

A few committee members also lamented the two-way project causing another loss of parking spots on top of those lost from the creation of the Open Street and plaza.

You can watch the full DOT presentation to Community Board 12 below, it starts around the 34:50 mark.