Community Board Calls For Columbus Circle Safety Improvements: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Community Board 7 is preparing to demand pedestrian and bicyclist safety improvements in hectic Columbus Circle, according to a report.

The board's transportation committee passed a resolution calling for safe north- and south-bound bike and pedestrian travel through the traffic circle separate from vehicle traffic, Streetsblog first reported. There are currently no bike lanes within the traffic circle, except for a short connecter from Broadway to Central Park.

Columbus Circle — which connects Broadway, Eighth Avenue, Central Park West and West 59th Street — is relatively lawless, with little signage, cars switching lanes as they please and barely visible lane markers. As a result, it's become a danger zone for pedestrians and bicyclists. Since 2011, 10 pedestrians and 18 bicyclists have been injured within the traffic circle, according to city Vision Zero data.

"It’s like the wild wild west when you’re [biking there] because the cars are crossing over what should be lines in the road, but there aren’t any lines there," Claire Brennan, an Upper West Side Transportation Alternative volunteer told Streetsblog.

Read Streetsblog's full article here.

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