NYC's Broadway to turn into a Pedestrian and Bike Esplanade

From http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elmcitycycling/message/7429. Click there to read an original article about the conversion plan, and an open letter of response written by a Safe Streets Coalition supporter.

"Thanks largely to the team of Mayor Bloomberg, the Department of City Planning, and renowned Copenhagen urbanist Jan Gehl, New York City is turning its largest and most significant public street into a landscaped boulevard for bicyclists and pedestrians.

"I lived and worked right in the middle of this section of Broadway for several years, and can't wait to use this new esplanade. It will be great for commuting and getting from Herald Square to Times Square. Among hundreds of other pedestrians who have been hit and seriously injured or killed in recent years along this stretch, the proposed new boulevard begins right where 7 pedestrians were killed and 8 seriously injured in a widely publicized traffic incident on December 27, 2001...

"Let's make it clear to ConnDOT and our elected officials that it is about time that Connecticut had pedestrian and bicycle friendly cities and towns, instead of cities designed exclusively for moving automobiles through the middle of our neighborhoods at the deadliest, highest speeds possible. Even as we speak, ConnDOT is planning to widen several streets in the heart of our city in order to create "smoother" traffic flows, over the objections of many residents...."

See http://www.downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/2008/07/pedestrians-now-playing-on-broadway.html for an article about how this relates to Broadway in New Haven.