Canal Street Is Still Deadly. The City Must Act Now.
Despite two decades of promises and a restarted planning process, the City still has no timeline to fix Manhattan’s deadliest street.
While the City delays, people are dying. In 2024, our Manhattan Activist Committee — alongside elected officials—sent a letter to DOT calling for immediate action.
In 2022, the Department of Transportation re-started a visioning process with the public. In the two years since, we’ve been waiting for a comprehensive plan from the City. We need transparent and immediate action. Canal Street is the deadliest street for traffic crashes in Manhattan.
In the past two years alone, there have been 2 traffic fatalities and 7 serious injuries along Canal Street. In the past 10 years of Vision Zero, there have been 10 traffic fatalities along Canal Street – but still, no movement or urgency from the City.
According to Census data, Canal Street’s surrounding community demographics are especially vulnerable to dangerous street conditions:
• 5,000 children live within .25 miles of Canal Street • 10,000 seniors, significantly higher than the citywide average, live within .25 miles of Canal Street • 78% of households within .25 miles of Canal Street are car-free • 2 out of 3 residents living within .25 miles of Canal Street are nonwhite While the City stalls, Canal Street remains deadly. Early Wednesday March 6th, an SUV driver hit and killed a pedestrian at the intersection of Canal Street and Lafayette Street. A few hours later, the Fix Canal campaign team walked with Council Member Marte to audit Canal Street's dangerous conditions. Despite deadly conditions along the corridor, we don’t know the timeline for implementation, any future community engagement, or plans for lifesaving interim safety interventions. The public needs immediate action, not more studies and delays. It’s past time for a Canal Street that puts people first and prioritizes safety, the experience of pedestrians, the aging population, and the needs of small businesses. Yesterday’s fatality indicates that the city’s inaction will only lead to more carnage on our streets. While the Department of Transportation stalls behind closed doors, residents and community members continue to die on this street. We are calling for an immediate redesign of Manhattan’s most dangerous street. We need changes now before we lose more people to preventable crashes. We call for speeding up the timeline for Canal Street's full redesign. We also recommend the following emergency safety interventions to be implemented immediately as interim solutions: • Lower Speed Limits on the Manhattan Bridge to 25 mph to lessen the shift in traffic speeds when cars drive off the bridge onto Canal and through the neighborhood. • Create permanent barriers on previously identified “Turn Calming” priority intersections (in replacement of destroyed temporary measures put in previously.) • Reclaim parking spaces and extend sidewalks giving pedestrians more room to safely navigate busy intersections without entering traffic lanes. • Double space for pedestrians on sidewalks with a “supersidewalk” and daylight intersections to ensure accessibility and visibility at all intersections.
• 5,000 children live within .25 miles of Canal Street • 10,000 seniors, significantly higher than the citywide average, live within .25 miles of Canal Street • 78% of households within .25 miles of Canal Street are car-free • 2 out of 3 residents living within .25 miles of Canal Street are nonwhite While the City stalls, Canal Street remains deadly. Early Wednesday March 6th, an SUV driver hit and killed a pedestrian at the intersection of Canal Street and Lafayette Street. A few hours later, the Fix Canal campaign team walked with Council Member Marte to audit Canal Street's dangerous conditions. Despite deadly conditions along the corridor, we don’t know the timeline for implementation, any future community engagement, or plans for lifesaving interim safety interventions. The public needs immediate action, not more studies and delays. It’s past time for a Canal Street that puts people first and prioritizes safety, the experience of pedestrians, the aging population, and the needs of small businesses. Yesterday’s fatality indicates that the city’s inaction will only lead to more carnage on our streets. While the Department of Transportation stalls behind closed doors, residents and community members continue to die on this street. We are calling for an immediate redesign of Manhattan’s most dangerous street. We need changes now before we lose more people to preventable crashes. We call for speeding up the timeline for Canal Street's full redesign. We also recommend the following emergency safety interventions to be implemented immediately as interim solutions: • Lower Speed Limits on the Manhattan Bridge to 25 mph to lessen the shift in traffic speeds when cars drive off the bridge onto Canal and through the neighborhood. • Create permanent barriers on previously identified “Turn Calming” priority intersections (in replacement of destroyed temporary measures put in previously.) • Reclaim parking spaces and extend sidewalks giving pedestrians more room to safely navigate busy intersections without entering traffic lanes. • Double space for pedestrians on sidewalks with a “supersidewalk” and daylight intersections to ensure accessibility and visibility at all intersections.
— Transportation Alternatives' Manhattan Activist Committee
