Fitting the Solution to the Problem

Brooklyn's Fulton Street Shows Bureaucrats Being Flexible 

Say hello to Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G. This mural portrait is at Fulton and St. James in Brooklyn. Notorious B.I.G.'s childhood home is on St. James, between Fulton and Gates, and in 2019 New York City added his name to the block, so now it's both St. James Place and Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace Way. (He was also called Biggie Smalls, but that sobriquet didn't make it onto the street sign.)

Notorious B.I.G. was a famous and, I'm told, very talented rapper. I don't know enough to talk intelligently about him or his music, so I'm going to move directly to the actual topic of this story, which is a little miracle that is taking place in his home neighborhood.

Bus Lanes

Let's have a look at Fulton Street. Fulton is a major east-west street that extends from downtown Brooklyn to the border with Queens. (The street continues in Queens, but it has a different name.) We're concerned here with the western part of Fulton, which has three distinct segments. Have a look at the drawing below.

This drawing comes from a 2017 Powerpoint by New York City's Department of Transportation (NYCDOT). If you'd like to see the full document, click here.

So here was the state of play in 2017. The Fulton Mall, west of Flatbush, has been around for decades. It prioritizes pedestrians - the area is a nexus for transit with, by my count, not less than 13 subway lines and seven bus routes passing through or near the mall. Buses are allowed in the mall, which is technically a transitway, and delivery trucks and emergency vehicles also have access. (For an article on the Fulton Mall, click here.)

There are two segments east of Flatbush. The first - the central one of the three - has curbside bus lanes. The easternmost (labeled "Study Area" in the drawing) has no special provision for buses, beyond bus stops. 

In 2017 NYCDOT, facing serious congestion issues in the Study Area, proposed extending the curbside bus lanes from the central zone through the Study Area, but limiting operation of the lanes to morning and evening hours, allowing the space to revert to parking and loading at other times.

There was precedent for this proposal. the central segment was actually two zones. The western zone, starting at Flatbush, had curbside bus lanes all the time. The eastern zone, however, limited the zones to  the hours between 7 am and 7 pm on weekdays.

So the proposal for the Study Area can be seen as simply a further step on a glide path from the Fulton Mall, which is mainly about pedestrians and buses, through the central segment, which starts off with 24/7 bus lanes for the western piece, and then glides down to provide overnight and weekend parking in the eastern piece, and then glides to a Study Area bus lane design focused on rush hour.

The community's reception of this modest proposal was not entirely positive. The Fulton Area Business Alliance (FAB FULTON) negotiated with the City and agreed to a new plan with westbound bus lane hours in the morning only and eastbound lane hours in the evening only.

Numerous local businesses then decided to go rogue, and even enlisted a City Council member to plead their case. This effort failed, and the FAB plan was implemented. 

I don't have a good sense of what has gone on during the pandemic, but before the arrival of the coronavirus I had the feeling that NYCDOT had gotten what it wanted.

Signage and Enforcement 

One of the problems with the new bus lanes is that they're complicated. Have a look at this pole full of signs.

The space here is variously given over to loading, parking - don't forget street sweeping - and, oh, yes, no standing, when it is a bus lane. This is called burying the lead, so the sign makers came up with yet another sign, which I suppose we can call a headline.

Having these signs means you can point to them while you're writing a ticket, if that's your line of work. Of course, enforcement officers can't be everywhere, so, in August 2020, NYCDOT and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced that camera enforcement was coming to Fulton Street; this was part of a broad expansion of an existing camera enforcement program, adding streets in three boroughs.

Cross Road Blues

(Robert Johnson originally recorded his Cross Road Blues in 1936. For more information about the song, click here.) 

Fulton Street has a mind of its own and basically pays no attention to the underlying street grid. This diagonal approach to life creates some interesting intersections.

And the quirkiness leads to problems - a flat turn means drivers can - and do - go faster. The geometry of the intersection can also lead to very long crosswalks.

NYCDOT, in its 2017 study, came up with several fixes. Bumpouts can shorten pedestrian crossing distances and increase visibility for all road users. These bumpouts can be made of concrete, or they can be made of paint. Paint is quicker and cheaper. It helps if you throw in some flex posts and a few planters. That way you won't have people parking their cars in the bumpouts.

I think we should give the streets engineers some credit here for their flexibility. Departments of Transportation have historically been rather ponderous organizations, doing large, expensive projects slowly (think bridges and Interstate highways). The idea of a small project executed quickly and cheaply is a big shift - a cultural shift. And here they're doing it. 

The work on Fulton also involves a fair amount of more standard construction, and my impression is it's well designed and well executed.

Here's another example of new thinking. There is the very human tendency to cut corners. NYCDOT has taken to placing sturdy flex posts in the street's median strip, near intersections. Here's an installation on Fulton near Classon. In the background you can see the Crispus Attucks playground. (The adjacent basketball courts are named after Biggie.) 

These posts get beat up quite a bit, but that means they're working. You just need to maintain them.

Putnam Triangle

Diagonals make triangles; the City and FAB, which is a Business Improvement District, have been working to upgrade the triangles along this stretch of Fulton. 

My favorite is the Putnam Triangle, which has benefited greatly from a dramatic renovation. 

Before this recent work was done, Putnam Avenue ran into Fulton right next to the spot where Cambridge Place ran into Fulton, creating a very gnarly three-way quasi-intersection. 

Eliminating this block of Putnam got rid of a substantial number of traffic conflicts. It also basically doubled the available pedestrian space and turned a traffic island into a handsome, easily accessible pedestrian plaza.

FAB has extensive coverage of the Putnam Triangle on its website.

One of the Things We Lost

Below is a shot of a little cafe at the same intersection as the Crispus Attucks playground. It's from the Before times, and I couldn't remember the cafe's name. My daughter reminded me: Always and Forever. A trifle ironic in view of subsequent events.

This is a rare quiet moment. Usually this place was bustling; the owners and staff just loved little kids, and families would pour over from Crispus Attucks to refuel with cookies and hot chocolate, and pastries and very good coffee for the grownups.

At this moment, I think my grandson and various grownups may have gone back to the playground for Round Two, to be followed by home, lunch, and a nap. I would occasionally stay behind, lingering over my coffee, and being very happy.

Always and Forever is now sadly gone from the neighborhood - lost to the virus.

(My daughter also, in an attempt to update my musical education, sent me this link to a music video by the Notorious B.I.G. I enjoyed it very much and recommend it to you.)

See also Getting From Here to There, Unblocking the Bus Lane on Chestnut.