Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets

A group of us met Wednesday evening to discuss pedestrian- and bicycle-oriented improvements to present to CB12 in September.

To preserve member confidentiality, I’m presenting an edited version of the minutes below.

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Meeting, 2008-08-06, livable streets improvements for Inwood and Washington Heights

This, the first meeting of the above group, described the presentation of the Dyckman Greenway connector at the February, 2008 Community Board 12 Transportation meeting and at a spring East Coast Greenway meeting and at the 3rd Greenway summit at Hunter College, also held this spring. Since Mark Levine, chair of CB12’s Transportation committee has invited us to present at the September 8 meeting, and it could include other greenway recommendations, we set about to write them down and to prepare our strategy for the September meeting. 

Member ideas presented:

• Create cycle path from Broadway Bridge to St. Nicholas and 155th
• Create cycle path from Inwood Park east along 207th St across bridge to Fordham road (eventually to Pelham Park)
• Ramp the stairs at the north end of Henry Hudson bikepath
• Develop a “Lombard St.” style treatment of Staff Street that retains parking, adds green space, and creates a safer cycle path transition from the Greenway to Dyckman St
• Create Dyckman Greenway Connector – Henry Hudson bikepath terminus along Riverside, Dyckman to Harlem river path
• Connect Henry Hudson path directly to access to GW Bridge south pathway (perhaps via tunnel under Northbound HH parkway)
• Connect to Highbridge from Dyckman
• Vias Verdes–need to contact Jonathan on this
• Reduce tolls on Henry Hudson bridge to reduce traffic in Inwood streets (looking for a free alternative to the parkway)
  

Improvements on Parks’ and others’ drawing boards:

• East Coast Greenway/Parks – Ramp from Dyckman St to Henry Hudson path
• Parks: Pave track along Hudson river south from Dyckman near Marina
• Parks: Create ramp to bridge over Amtrak rails in Ft. Tryon/Inwood Hill parks
• East Coast Greenway:  Create cycle path on Broadway to 218th, to Seaman, to Dyckman, to Henry Hudson path.
• NYMTC: Create river path to Yonkers  

Small / maintenance issues:

• Ask for Green Streets triangle at Isham/Broadway/211th St
• Pave edges / flatten old parking lot in front of Grecian temple on HH path – safety hazard
• Widen Henry Hudson Bridge pathway where light pole is in the middle of the narrowest part (between Dyckman and George Washington Bridge
• Replace missing sign at northern terminus of Henry Hudson path to prevent accidents due to stairway
  
• Deal with weekend daytime parties that clog 155th St on Henry Hudson path (excessive noise, insufficient trash collection, impassible path)
• Repair crumbling steps at 215th St (not discussed at meeting but should be on our agenda)
  

Future agenda / steps:

• Prioritize greenway segments
• Create new Powerpoint presentation
• Create petition in favor of Dyckman Greenway Connector
• Scheduling a future meeting – Mondays good, Wed, Thurs maybe  - 2 weeks from now
• Perform Broadway cycle path segment measurements and presentation

A to-do list for members with specific action items for the next meeting was also created. Tasks included outreach to TA, Parks, CB12 and other organizations; developing a map and presentation for the meeting, and research on issues such as asthma and economic benefits to businesses of livable streets improvements.