We gathered last night in heartbreak and fury for May Kwok and Kevin Cruikshank, two lives stolen in crashes this weekend that we've long warned were preventable. As Chair of Community Board 3, I've joined community leaders in calling on @nyc_dot to fix Canal Street and make room for the people and small businesses who give this corridor life for years now.
We're past the deadline. DOT promised a redesign plan by Fall 2024. Two more lives are now gone, and we've seen no action.
We need immediate safety changes — and we must rethink the Manhattan Bridge Plaza as a true public space: for walking, biking, gathering, and grieving.
Despite years of community pressure and city studies, the Department of Transportation has yet to unveil a redesign. The agency says it plans to update the public on proposed safety improvements this fall. Advocates are pushing for measures like bollards or concrete barriers, as well as a broader reimagining of the Manhattan Bridge plaza.
"DOT has plans and they sit on shelves, people die, people are seriously injured in the meantime," Kate Brockwehl, an advocate with the organization Families for Safe Streets, said during the rally, as reported by Streetsblog. "Why play politics and delay, and delay, and delay, when you know that Canal Street in its current design is a public health emergency?"
