Pedestrian-Friendly Traffic Lights Coming to Prospect Heights

Prospect Heights residents will soon have an easier time crossing Flatbush Avnue, Eastern Parkway and Atlantic Avenue after the city installs dozens of traffic lights that count down the seconds pedestrians have left to cross.

The new traffic lights are part of a plan to put as many as 1,500 “pedestrian countdown signals” on major streets across the five boroughs, said Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn at a news conference Monday morning.

Countdown signals will be installed at every single intersection:

• Along Eastern Parkway from Grand Army Plaza to Ralph Avenue
• Along Atlantic Avenue between S. Oxford Street and Grant Avenue, which is nearly in Queens
• And along Flatbush Avenue between Fulton Avenue and Grand Army Plaza

See the map of all the areas getting the countdown signals here.

Flanked by Prospect Heights Councilwoman Letitia James and Downtown Councilman Steven Leven, Sadik-Kahn made the announcement at the busy intersection of Flatbush, Fulton and Nevins this morning, where one of the new countdown signals was installed. Between 2005 and 2009, 32 pedestrians have been hit at that intersection alone, she said.

“Crossing the street doesn’t need to be a guessing game,” Sadik-Khan said in a news release following the event.

Many of the countdown signals will be installed this summer. The rest will be installed within about a year, Sadik-Khan said at the news conference. Funding is coming from the Federal Highway Funding, she added.

The installation is one part of the Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan, announced last year by the DOT. As part of the plan, the city plans to test 20 mph zones in some parts of the city and it has already begun to advertise the little known fact that in most parts of the city, the speed limit is just 30 mph.

“DOT’s Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan is crucial; even one traffic death is too much in my estimation, and reinforcing the speed limit will protect pedestrians,” said James in the news release.

The DOT also plans to redesign 60 miles of streets, including the to improve pedestrian safety.

 For now, the pedestrian countdown signals are intended to equip pedestrians with more information.

"We've heard people like the information to make an informed decision," said Sadik-Kahn.

Caroll Gardens Patch editor Georgia Kral contributed reporting and photography.