The fire department had no info on the crash, meaning it likely didn’t result in any injuries. The intersection is one of the most dangerous in the neighborhood and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal has recommended that the city redesign it or at least add some speed bumps.

The plans go far beyond the protected bike lanes that were approved to be built on Columbus Avenue in the next few months.

In one of the renderings, Broadway is closed off to cars at 75th Street. In another, side streets are redesigned to make cars weave through a kind of concrete maze so they slow down. Lisa Sladkus and Mark Gorton, two locals who have advocated for more bike lanes and other changes to the streetscape, narrate a second video that expands on how the changes would make the neighborhood safer. Check the videos out, and send in your own suggestions.

Street Transformations – Upper West Side from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

A Walk around the Upper West Side from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

He thinks he knows one reason that intersection is dangerous, and decided to make a video about it (he was careful to say that he’s not sure what caused Monday’s crashes). We are very, very grateful. If you ever have an inclination to do something like this, we heartily encourage it. Check it out below:

Cars hit pedestrians twice on Monday, on Amsterdam Avenue at 70th and 71st Street. In the first instance, a man was hit by a cab at about 5:15 p.m. on 70th and Amsterdam and taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in serious condition. In the second, a woman was hit on 71st and Amsterdam at about 8:20 p.m. and taken to New York Hospital in “serious, if not worse” condition, the FDNY told us. Streetsblog has also reported on the crashes.

We also received a photo from a tipster this morning (below), purportedly of another crash at 71st and Broadway on Tuesday, although the FDNY did not have a record of that accident (it may actually have been the second Monday crash). The tipster wrote in: “This woman was face down on the ground for quite some time before the ambulance came. I thought she was dead.” (Update: our tipster confirms it was the Monday crash)

The intersection of Broadway and Amsterdam, which occurs between 71st and 72nd Streets, is a harrowing spot for pedestrians, and a recent report suggested redesigning it (possibly even installing speed bumps) to make it more pedestrian-friendly. Last year, this intersection was also the site of a taxi crash that injured three people. (Photos by Max Bernstein and tipster Sarah)

If you see a crash or other news event, snap a picture and let us know.

This could be you in 2013 (maybe without the beard).

The Department of Transportation, emboldened by the Times Square and Herald Square projects, which shut off cars to large sections of Manhattan, is now soliciting new ideas. The city is accepting applications for new car-free plazas. The deadline is June 30. The New York Post recently reported that there could be multiple applications for the Lincoln Center area.

The Lincoln Square BID, a group that represents businesses and organizations in the Lincoln Square area, is hoping to turn Dante Park, a 6,200 square foot park, into the next car-free zone.

The group already set up tables and chairs in the park, but says there just isn’t enough space right now for people to sit.

“There’s just very little space for people to sit,” BID president Monica Blum told the West Side Spirit. “There’s clearly a need for people to sit outdoors. There are lots of possibilities that could be explored.”

With pedestrian plazas and protected bike lanes, the Upper West Side could become even more unfriendly to car owners, who already have to deal with the joy of parking here. Is there anywhere else in the neighborhood that should be car-free? Let us know your opinions.

(image via google maps. Flickr photo by The Juicer.)

Three people were injured on August 18 when a cab careened through a gate and slammed into the 72nd Street Subway station’s south entrance.

In a letter she wrote to Department of Transportation official Margaret Forgione, Rosenthal said the intersection where Amsterdam and Broadway cross paths is particularly dangerous for pedestrians because “many vehicles often accelerate to cut each other off to reach these respectve avenues.” The taxi crash “underscores the importance of taming dense traffic in this area.”

A 2007 study by Transportation Alternatives that Rosenthal commissioned noted the high volume of pedestrians and vehicles that converge at the intersection and the short lights that make “elderly don’t feel like they have enough time to cross the street.” The report recommended extending the curbs at the intersections and slowing the walk signals to give people time to walk 2.5 feet per second, among other changes. (photo by DBOi181 via twitpic)

One kind of protected bike lane. Diagram courtesy of Streetfilms.

“I am very enthusiastic,” said Mark Gorton, one of the dozens of bike advocates who packed the community board meeting on Tuesday wearing green stickers that said Protected Bike Lanes Protect Everyone. “It’s long overdue.”

In a 28 to 7 vote, the board basically agreed to tell the city Department of Transportation to study what effect bike lanes on Columbus and Amsterdam would have on traffic, parking, business and safety and report back with a proposal to build lanes. “Protected” bike lanes, unlike the bike lanes that are currently on the Upper West Side, are wider and have barriers on both sides of the cyclist so he or she doesn’t have to worry about swerving cars. The already exist in a few spots in the city, including on 8th and 9th Avenues in Chelsea. It’s unclear whether the lanes would stretch all the way from 59th to 110th Streets.

Bike advocates argue that the lanes would protect not only bicyclists but also pedestrians who would have a shorter walk across long avenue blocks. Between 1995 and 2005, 2 bicyclists were killed in collision with vehicles and hundreds were injured, according to data compiled by the NYC Streets Renaissance’s Upper West Side chapter. Dozens of pedestrians were also killed by car collisions.

Unprotected “bicycle lanes are helpful, but they’re not enough,”  said 11-year-old Clark Vaccaro, who lives on the Upper East Side but bikes every morning to the Calhoun School on the West side.

Not everyone at the meeting, however, agreed that the West Side needs protected bike lanes. Protected lanes narrow the width of the street, and can take away driving or parking lanes. And some people argue that bicyclists can also pose their own dangers.

The Lincoln Square Business Improvement District opposes the lanes mostly because the community has not been fully involved in the procss of considering them, and one mother of a 5-year-old stood up to say that bikes whizzing by endanger the children in the community — “I’ve been almost hit by bikes more times than I’ve been almost hit by cars,” she said. Some community board members said more people need to weigh in on the bike lane proposal before they can vote.

“The vast majority of people on the Upper West Side have no idea about this,” said community board member Shelly Fine.

Here’s the Upper West Side Streets Renaissance position paper on bike lanes. And below, check out a video about protected bike lanes.

Correction: An orginal version of this article said the lanes would go from 59th to 110th. It’s unclear where the lanes would start and finish. The poll was also updated to allow for more reasons to dislike bike lanes.