Mayor Bloomberg has designated fourteen neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs as “Neighborhood Slow Zones” in an effort to enhance safety and reduce traffic-related fatalities. In these areas, the city has reduced the speed limit from thirty miles per hour to twenty. Communities throughout the city submitted applications to the NYC Department of Transportation, and the Slow Zones are reinforced with additional speed bumps throughout the neighborhoods to encourage reduced speeds. The city’s hope is that the new zones will protect motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians alike.
The city began this initiative with a pilot program in the Claremont section of the Bronx. Over the next several months, thirteen additional neighborhoods will be added to the program. These future communities are: Mt. Eden, Baychester, Eastchester, and Riverdale in the Bronx; Boerum Hill in Brooklyn; Inwood in Manhattan; Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Auburndale in Queens; and New Brighton, Dongan Hills, and Rosebank in Staten Island. The DOT has said that it plans on re-opening the process to apply for a Neighborhood Slow Zone designation at some point in 2013. To read the full press release, click here.
