A car and a commercial bus collided this evening around 5:45 at the intersection of W 53^rd St & 9^th Ave. It looked pretty minor – they were just touching, with no real damage visible – but blocked most of the intersection for at least half an hour. Traffic was great, as you’d imagine.

The massive 79-​page Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen Traffic Study was released recently, and it is detailed. Covering everything from traffic light timings and markings on the road to whole new pedestrian areas, it’s got some interesting things in it (and some not-​so-​interesting…)

Here’s some of the highlights:

• There’s plans for the “Canoe Project”: a pedestrian plaza of sorts along W 36^th St between 9^th & Dyer Aves – replacing where all the cars park at an angle – which would also include a crosswalk connecting to the sidewalk along 9^th Ave that just ends abruptly in the middle of the Lincoln Tunnel entrance road. Here’s the concept (note the canoe shape):

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• The intersection/​gauntlet at 41^st & 9^th (where the hit-​and-​run happened in February) has been named the next-​worst pedestrian intersection after the one above, so it’s good to know the “powers that be” are fully aware of the problem, and are planning to do something about it.

• The Select Bus Service on 34^th St might be getting a reworking, moving the bus lane over to keep the delivery/​service vehicles out and extending the sidewalk out at some points into “bulbs” for passengers to wait. The rendering (can’t change the labels, unfortunately):

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If you’re up for it, have a ready of the study for everything you could possibly want to know about the state of traffic and the streets around the neighborhood.

Lots of transit news today! Again from CHEKPEDS, the Bolt Bus stop near Penn Station at 34^th & 8^th will be relocating far west to 33^rd & 11^th, after a decision at last night’s community board meeting.

Bolt Bus were hoping for the relocation to be at 39^th & 10^th (see the notice below), but because of the strong pushback from the community at the meeting, were instead given the 11^th Ave spot.

Fellow bus line Megabus moved from their stop last year at 41^st & 10^th – just two blocks north of Bolt Bus’s original proposed new home – to opposite the Javits Center west of 11^th Ave on 34^th St – now just one block north of the replacement Bolt Bus stop – which went down with any dramas. The Bolt Bus move should also follow suit.

Of course, if you’re ever been unlucky enough to have had to catch one of the late-​night departures from the Megabus stop, you’ll know just how generally seedy that whole area around the rail yards is at 1am, so Bolt Bus passengers will soon get to experience that fun for themselves. Then again, the additional bus service on that block might help bring some more life to the area at night, at least until the High Line extension, the 7 Line extension, and Hudson Yards are ready.

CHEKPEDS aren’t wasting any time after this victory from the community. They’ve already set their sights on 42^nd & 8^th and the swarm of buses hassling offering people trips to Woodbury Commons, etc, so look out for that battle.

The intersection at W 42^nd St & 9^th Ave is a bit of a gauntlet for pedestrians, and almost always has a police officer directing traffic during peak hours of the day. As of today, however, members of CHEKPEDS have managed to get the way the lights work changed. From their posting:

When the light turns red on 9^th Avenue, pedestrians now get the WALK signal immediately, while the cars turning from 9^th Avenue do not have the green arrow. If the drivers try to turn south, the eastbound traffic prevents them from doing so. As the pedestrian countdown comes to 0, the westbound cars turning south get a green arrow, while the eastbound traffic is stopped.

It took seven years for CHEKPEDS to get the lights changed, but now that it’s here should hopefully make that extremely busy intersection a bit safer for pedestrians.

It’s good to see changes being made to help improve safety on the intersections along 9^th Ave. Earlier this year, just one block south at 41^st & 9^th, a 69-​year-​old woman was killed in a hit-​and-​run when a van made a “right hook” onto 41^st St, so it’s hard to disagree with the changes. We’ll be looking to see if changes like the one today spread to other intersections.