Uptown Students Will Make These Local Streets Safer, DOT Says

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — Uptown students part of an after-school program worked with the city to lead a redesign of a stretch of local roadway with protected bike lanes and other traffic calming measures.

The project, which will be completed by the end of the year, will add bike lanes, pedestrian islands, speed cushions, and curb extensions to reduce speeding on Amsterdam and St. Nicholas Avenues between West 188th Street and Fort George Avenue.

"We are proud to have worked closely with the ‘I Challenge Myself’ students and staff, as well as the administrations of the nearby schools, to improve traffic safety in their community," DOT Commissioner and former uptown Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez said in a news release. "The students were instrumental in crafting the street improvement project’s proposal and in securing Community Board 12’s support of the project."

The high school students found frequent speeding and reckless driving along Amsterdam Avenue in the area, before presenting their plan to Community Board 12 and receiving unanimous support of its transportation committee.

A total of seven schools are located in the immediate area, including the College Academy, the Equity Project Charter, High School for Health Careers and Sciences, High School for Law and Public Service, High School for Media and Communications, P.S. 138, and P.S. 189.

The uptown high schoolers' work to improve their local streets was the headline of a larger announcement by the DOT and mayor's office to reveal that more than 100 safe street redesign projects will be completed by the end of this year in underserved communities.

Mayor Eric Adams specified that the city plans to invest over $900 million in street safety and redesign 1,000 NYC intersections.

"Every New Yorker should be able to travel across this city without fearing for their life," Adams said in a news release. "We have focused relentlessly on the most dangerous intersections and historically underserved neighborhoods, and we will continue to move that work forward as quickly as possible.”