A group of city councilmembers wants to turn areas across the five boroughs into “low-traffic neighborhoods” — and is pushing legislation that would mandate minor changes to the streets to discourage driving.
The bill, which is being introduced Thursday by Councilmember Shaun Abreu, the chair of the city’s transportation committee, would require the city transportation department to make changes to streets in five neighborhoods “with a focus on creating low-traffic neighborhoods through directing traffic away from residential areas.”
The changes would require the city to install at least two different types of “traffic-calming devices” in each neighborhood, like speed humps, medians or barriers at intersections to force drivers to slow down. Abreu says the changes, albeit small, would discourage local traffic while still allowing emergency vehicles and delivery trucks to access the streets.
“It allows any vehicle, whether it be private cars, deliveries, emergency vehicles, and sanitation, to allow access within its boundaries, but traffic simply cannot cut through,” Abreu said. “We believe in this day and age, with all the collisions we've been seeing, especially from our cars, we think we can have safer streets with that.”
This year the city has seen a rash of fatal hit-and-run crashes, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pushed street redesign projects that were shelved by his predecessor. Mamdani released a plan earlier this month outlining the next 20 years of the city’s road safety Vision Zero program, which included vague promises to establish “pedestrian-only” and “pedestrian-priority” districts.
Abreu’s bill calls for mandating a few, specific design changes that go beyond the mayor’s plan. He said the legislation was inspired by conversations with lawmakers in London who oversee their own “low-traffic neighborhoods.”
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said he supports this bill, noting he’s heard calls for these types of changes from community boards members in Upper Manhattan. He argued European cities that have discouraged traffic on residential streets have seen a reduction in traffic deaths.
“ The idea is that you start with pilots to learn how these designs can work best in New York City,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “But the thinking also is once people start to see these positive impacts, more community boards will want them.”
