In late July, one horrific crash claimed two victims on Canal St. and less than 24 hours later, another crash in the same intersection injured two people. No traffic deaths or injuries are justifiable but two within one weekend underscores a grim reality: Canal St. is undeniably one of the most dangerous corridors in Manhattan.
Unfortunately, these two incidents aren’t isolated either. They are part of a devastating pattern of traffic violence. Since 2022, 18 New Yorkers have been killed or seriously injured on Canal St. For a city working towards its Vision Zero goals, this data point undermines the efforts and progress.
Canal St. is a major east-west thoroughfare, but it wasn’t designed for the volume or uses it sees today. Unlike its crosstown counterparts in Manhattan, like 14th and 34th Sts., Canal does not have a crosstown bus. The only options for travel on Canal St. are by car, bike or on foot. All users, even drivers, face risk when a roadway is unsafely designed.
As the heads of the two business improvement groups that bookend Canal St. — Hudson Square and Chinatown — the need and urgency to implement additional safety measures on this street cannot be overstated.
Many crashes, including the deadly one just weeks ago, involve a driver flying off the Manhattan Bridge. With a 35 miles per hour speed limit, cars are often traveling at unusually high speeds downhill toward pedestrian areas. Traffic is then directed along a sharp curve onto Canal’s wide roadways, and with traffic calming measures few and far between, it creates the perfect storm of dangerous conditions.
Pedestrians make up 64% of users on Canal St. but are only allotted about 40% of the streetscape. At the Bowery intersection, where a number of deadly crashes have occurred, only 10% of space is for pedestrians, even though they greatly outnumber drivers. In addition, the neighborhoods surrounding Canal St. are home to a high population of seniors and children, two groups that are especially vulnerable on this corridor.
It’s been widely recognized — by advocates and the city — that Canal St. is long overdue for more safety upgrades. In 2021, NYC DOT commissioned a comprehensive study of traffic conditions in Hudson Square and the West Village, which identified Canal as a high-crash corridor.
In fact, Canal St. traffic patterns have been studied since 2002, and reports continue to highlight Canal’s hazardous intersections, poor pedestrian visibility and vehicle volumes that far exceed the street’s original design capacity. The pain points have been identified and solutions exist, but we need to implement changes quickly before another senseless tragedy claims more lives or causes more harm.
The city has undertaken some incremental steps in recent years that indicate how impactful a comprehensive redesign can be. Several years ago, NYC DOT and the Chinatown Partnership expanded the sidewalk and crosswalk by three feet on the south side of Canal near Baxter and Mulberry.
This provided two immediate benefits — it created more space for the large number of pedestrians that use Canal and created a direct link between Chinatown and Little Italy, connecting two neighborhoods that see a high volume of foot traffic.
NYC DOT also added a new safety median and traffic calming measures at the Bowery intersection, in addition to painting extended curbs on the east and west sides of Canal. These combined efforts reclaimed more of the streetscape for pedestrians and narrowed busy traffic lanes, making key points along the corridor safer.
Meanwhile, the Hudson Square BID’s 10-year streetscape plan seeks to expand the medians on the west side of Canal, an improvement that would have similar positive effects to curb extensions. We could even take this further and expand the medians along the entire length of Canal to slow traffic and create safer crossings for pedestrians. NYC DOT has made a number of short-term improvements and these are all signs of progress, but there is much more work to be done.
Fortunately, in the last few weeks, DOT has indicated they are now ready to begin work on extensive improvements to Canal St. and expect to begin a public engagement process shortly. These types of public projects naturally take some time through the community outreach and design process, followed by construction. But New Yorkers also deserve to feel safe on their streets and therefore, an urgent timeline must be prioritized for this work.
Now is the time to implement comprehensive change and fix Canal St. for good.
Karasyk is president and CEO of the Hudson Square Business Improvement District. Chen is executive director of the Chinatown Partnership.
