Resurfaced roadways on 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue to have offset crossings

As you've likely noticed, the city has resurfaced parts of First Avenue (above!) and Second Avenue in recent weeks... (top two photos via Vinny & O)



The DOT has now added the markings to the roadway for the crosswalks, bike lanes, etc...









With the resurfacing comes an important change at intersections to make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The city is adding offset crossings, like you'll find on Fourth Avenue at 13th Street ...

Paving is now complete on 1st and 2nd Aves in the East Village. Our markings contractor will soon begin installing roadway markings. Crews will be updating #bikenyc intersections, adding off-set crossings to many of the intersections in this area. #BikeMonth pic.twitter.com/tQxPdN0VIY

— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) May 21, 2019

This morning crews are on 1st Ave in the East Village laying out where markings will soon be installed, including a new offset crossing at E 5th St. #bikenyc #BikeMonth pic.twitter.com/ssNIP8WKcT

— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) May 24, 2019

As David Meyer reported last week at Streetsblog, the arrival of offset crossings in the East Village comes two years after the driver of a box truck reportedly made an illegal left turn turn — across multiple lanes of traffic on First Avenue at Ninth Street — and slammed into cyclist Kelly Hurley, who later died from her injuries.

Per Streetsblog:

In the aftermath of her death, advocates implored the agency to rethink its use of “mixing zones” — which force cyclists and drivers to negotiate the same space at the same time.

After Hurley’s death, Upper West Side architect Reed Rubey came up withan alternative design, which was subsequently endorsed by Manhattan Community Board 4.

Rubey’s efforts partly inspired DOT’s chosen solution: the offset intersection, which it piloted at select locations in 2017 and 2018. In September, DOT’s “Cycling at the Crossroads” report showed that cyclists felt significantly safer at intersections with offset crossings [PDF].

[An example of offset crossing on 70th Street and Columbus Avenue]

And a look at First Avenue and Ninth Street on Saturday...





On Sunday, the Post, citing NYPD data, reported that "traffic crashes have already killed 71 people this year, up from 58 during the same time period in 2018 — a 22 percent surge."

In total, 39 pedestrians and 10 cyclists have been killed by cars or trucks on city streets this year. (There were 10 cyclists killed in all of 2018.) Drivers or passengers in vehicles accounted for the other 22 fatalities on city roads.

In memory of Kelly Hurley

[Photo by Steven]

On the morning of April 5, 2017, Kelly Hurley was struck by a box truck while biking to work on First Avenue at Ninth Street. Hurley, who lived on the Lower East Side, died the following week from her injuries. She was 31.

Flowers in her memory arrived today on the southwest corner of First Avenue and Ninth Street.

Last June, the driver of the box truck was arrested. Per DNAInfo at the time:

Kyung H. Hyun, 59, was arrested at 1:57 p.m. and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian — the city's "right of way" law under the Mayor's Vision Zero initiative — failure to exercise due care, and making an improper left turn, according to authorities.

Previous reports stated that he had come to a complete stop on First Avenue before making the abrupt left turn onto Ninth Street across four lanes of traffic. He struck Hurley, who had the right of way.

Police gave Hyun a desk appearance ticket. He first appeared in Manhattan criminal court on Aug. 29, the Daily News reported.

According to public records, the case has been adjourned multiple times...



He's due back in New York Criminal Court on May 3.

CB3's Transportation Committee recommended last summer that the Department of Transportation consider more carefully separating bike and car traffic in the so-called "mixing zones" found at intersections like Ninth Street and First Avenue. (Read more about that here.)

Streetsblog reported in February that that DOT is expected to release full results of its study of bicycle intersection designs sometime this spring.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Kelly Hurley

Reactions to Kelly Hurley's death

NYPD offers explanation into Kelly Hurley's death: 'she slipped'

Report: Driver charged in collision that killed cyclist Kelly Hurley on 1st Avenue & 9th Street

[Photo from April 11]

The driver of the box truck who fatally struck a cyclist in April on Ninth Street at First Avenue has been arrested, according to published reports.

Per DNAInfo, who first had the story:

Kyung H. Hyun, 59, was arrested at 1:57 p.m. and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian — the city's "right of way" law under the Mayor's Vision Zero initiative — failure to exercise due care, and making an improper left turn, according to authorities.

On April 5, Kelly Hurley was riding in the northbound bike lane on First Avenue around 7:20 a.m. She had the green light at Ninth Street when Hyun reportedly made a left turn from First Avenue's right-most lane.

Previous reports stated that he had come to a complete stop on First Avenue before making the abrupt left turn onto Ninth Street across four lanes of traffic. He struck Hurley, who had the right of way. She died the following week from her injuries. Hurley was 31.

Police gave Hyun a desk appearance ticket. He’s due in Manhattan criminal court on Aug. 29, the Daily News reported.

CB3's Transportation Committee recently recommended that the Department of Transportation consider more carefully separating bike and car traffic in the so-called "mixing zones" found at intersections like Ninth Street and First Avenue. Read more about that here.

As DNAinfo's Allegra Hobbs reported in April:

Captain Vincent Greany, the Ninth Precinct's commanding officer, has condemned the zones as problematic, noting at a community council meeting after Hurley's death that it is "almost impossible" to see a cyclist while merging into their lane "unless you physically turn your head and look back."

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Kelly Hurley

Reactions to Kelly Hurley's death

NYPD offers explanation into Kelly Hurley's death: 'she slipped'

[Updated] NYPD offers explanation into Kelly Hurley's death: 'she slipped'

In an interview with Christopher Robbins at The Village Voice yesterday, an NYPD detective provided some updates on Kelly Hurley, the 31-year-old Lower East Side resident who died from her injuries following a collision with a box truck on First Avenue at Ninth Street on April 5.

Among the revelations:

• The NYPD to date has issued a single summons to the driver — for not having a crossover mirror.

• The spokesperson, Detective Ahmed Nasser, said that the truck "made a left turn from the rightmost lane" onto East Ninth Street.

• The detective said that Hurley "slipped off her bike" at the intersection and was struck by the truck.

Robbins asked Nasser if the truck driver, who remained at the scene of the collision, "should have been making sure that he wasn’t turning into a cyclist or a pedestrian in the intersection."

Nasser's response:

“Well, I suppose you can say one or the other, but it seems like he probably didn’t see her, and she was going up north, he was making a left, he’s actually already into the intersection, he was already making the turn. She probably didn’t stop in time, and she slipped and fell under. . . . He’s already in, she tried to stop, she came off the bike, she slipped under the truck."

Streetsblog yesterday said that this was another case of the NYPD blaming the victim.

Hurley is gone. She can’t recount her version of what happened on the morning of April 5, so we’re left with what the police tell us. And as is often the case when a motorist kills a pedestrian or cyclist, the NYPD account is a bizarre mess that exonerates the driver.

Detective Ahmed Nasser told the Voice that the motorist was turning left from the right-most lane, which, if true, is a moving violation. Turning motorists are also required to yield to cyclists at the intersection where Hurley was fatally injured, but Nasser offered up a series of conjectures to reach an exculpatory conclusion.

In an interview with DNAinfo, Nasser confirmed that the truck driver had come to a complete stop on First Avenue before making the abrupt left turn onto Ninth Street across four lanes of traffic.

He also said that the investigation is ongoing "and the truck driver may still be arrested."

Cycling and pedestrian advocates have spoken out against this intersection design. The crash happened in one of the so-called "mixing zones" where drivers are allowed to make careful left turns from First Avenue as cyclists are going straight through intersections with the green light.




[Photo from last Thursday]

Updated 10 p.m.

Patch attended tonight's Community Council Meeting at the 9th Precinct, where Lt. Brian Reynolds, commanding officer of the NYPD's collision investigation squad, addressed the collision.

"My own opinion is, I'm going to be recommending the driver be held accountable. I can't explain to you exactly what it's going to be right now, but after what I've seen, he's going to be held accountable, at least on my end, from my office."

And...

Reynolds declined to specify what exact recommendations he would make to the Manhattan district attorney's office, and did not confirm that the driver would necessarily be charged. Any criminal charges filed will ultimately be determined by prosecutors.