Too much going on! Heavy trucks trying to squeeze into an eight foot "turning lane"--Cars double parked as customers dart to get their checks cashed--IKEA shuttle buses coughing diesel clouds as they ferry customers to buy the latest in eco-furnishings. If the mantra of the 21st Century becomes "Reduce!", then we need to apply it to our streets. It would be tempting of course to ban all truck traffic or limit all left turns. But given the potential "wack-a-mole" nature of traffic calming, we don't want to risk pushing the problem elsewhere rather than solving it. Also, given that this is an area in transition both within the community (high rise development on 4th, the MTA's historical renovation of the 4th Ave F Station ) and at the mid point of larger transportation issues (Atlantic Yards, Gowanus Expressway Rebuild), any plan for the area should be seen as evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. A series of small changes can go a long way here until the larger area issues sort themselves out. A lot of improvement can come without physical change. Opening the East side entrance to the F train will reduce pedestrian / car/ truck conflicts. Similarly, the B77 and B103 should not be allowed to make wide rights on 4th and wide lefts on 10th (a "living street.) Adding Muni-meters frees up valuable sidewalk space. The saving grace of any plan though is 10th street. The train trestle means that the N sidewalk is both severely underused and excessively wide. Using that excess capacity is key to reducing pressure on 9th / 4th intersection. Taking a nod from Olmstead's plan for Prospect and Central Parks (separating traffic by size and speed) moving the bike paths to 10th makes a lot of sense. 9th already has too many conflicts--if you can't juggle 2 balls, why try 3? As bikes become more and more prevalent, it will become important to see them not as political statements or extensions of pedestrian traffic--enlarged bodies with wheels-- but as traffic in its own right, with needs separate and distinct from other types. Making 10th a main bike route helps to begin to collect bike traffic flow so that it can be collected and shaped as part of an overall traffic strategy. The aesthetic changes like the restoring the bridge (removing the sheet metal and stripping the glass so people on the street can see trains in the station) will also help—as the street becomes more something people want to spend time on, the less they will want to speed past it.

Larger physical changes can be made once the macro level ones sort themselves out. Using 9th as a test trolley route, removing the ventilation grates with a mechanical plant, removing the columns underneath the trestle to allow for bus traffic--making the train station a mini-Port Authority.

Those would be for the future. My site plan has some basic improvements that would go a long way to helping the immediate present.