Seeley Street in Windsor Terrace Won't Be Converted to a One-Way (at Least for Now)

WINDSOR TERRACE, BROOKLYN — At its Wednesday meeting, Community Board 7 rejected a proposal from the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to transform Seeley Street into a one-way pathway running west from Prospect Park to Green-Wood Cemetery.

In NYC, community board votes are never official — they're just advisory opinions. However, it's very rare that city agencies like the DOT — who, naturally, want to remain in New Yorkers' good graces — would completely disregard or override a community board vote. In most cases, when a city proposal has been voted down by community leaders, city planners go back to the drawing board and return with a revised proposal at a later date.

DOT officials had presented the idea of making Seeley into a one-way street at a smaller Community Board 7 committee meeting in Windsor Terrace earlier this week, following resident complaints that the street's narrowness was causing traffic problems.

While some locals at that meeting supported converting Seeley into a one-way, most thought the plan was inadequate, or worse: that by eliminating two-way traffic — the only current check on drivers' speeds — it would only encourage more speeding.

Windsor Terrace residents said they're not the only ones driving dangerously on Seeley. New Yorkers from other neighborhoods, too, use it as a miniature thoroughfare to pass through the area, they said.

Multiple attendees called for traffic signs, speed bumps, or other traffic control mechanisms to be added to the street, as well as for a neighborhood-wide traffic study to be conducted.

Seeley Street resident Neil Eisenberg brought his personal analysis of the street to the meeting, explaining that there are 1,811 feet between McDonald Avenue and the street's first stop sign.

DOT Brooklyn borough planner Zeph Parmenter, who presented the one-way proposal, said it didn't rule out other changes, but she didn't indicate if any alternations were currently planned.

Patch has reached out to DOT with the following related questions, and we'll update this post when we receive a response:

1) Is DOT currently conducting any kind of neighborhood traffic study in Windsor Terrace that looks at neighborhood traffic patters? If not, is such a study planned? And if it's not planned, how could residents request such a study?

2) Pertaining to Seeley Street in Windsor Terrace: Has DOT evaluated the feasibility of adding speed bumps, traffic lights, or stop signs to any spot on Seeley Street? If so, what was the result of that evaluation? And again, if an evaluation hasn't been done, how could residents request one?

Pictured at top: the intersection of Seeley Street and McDonald Avenue. Image via Google Maps.