I would be curious to see the number of accidents on Grand Street east of Marin Blvd, where it becomes a one lane street in a residential neighborhood, compared to west of Marin.

Adding the parking back to the south side did not calm traffic because the city configured the layout to keep two lanes. Basically the city treated it as a parking issue for the convenience of residents and the storefronts on Grand, when that was never what the main concern was about.

This is just my opinion, but I don't think eliminating lanes on each side of the street is going to make the street safer. In fact, as a previous poster pointed out, the parking that remains on the south side of the street only creates more problems, as it shifts the eastbound lanes toward the north at a weird angle and forces drivers to swerve toward the median as they approach the light at Barrow.
There are definitely problems with the traffic pattern on that stretch of Grand, but having two lanes on each side is not one of them. There needs to be more clear signage, right after Barrow, letting drivers know that the left lane is for turning only as they approach Grove. The driver in the SUV was probably in the left lane as he approached the light at Grove and tried to swerve around the cab (possibly at a high speed to cut in front of someone in the right lane). You can tell this by the damage on the SUV, and the fact that the cab was propelled toward the north side of the street.
The other major issues are people stopping illegally in front of the hospital and school to pick up passengers, and the whole traffic mess in front of the McDonald's shopping center.

This was a horrific accident, and many people in the neighborhood have long objected to the city's traffic planning on Grand Street.

Grand Street is essentially treated by drivers as a multi lane highway. You can't even keep to the speed limit there. If you do you are potentially impeding traffic flow because so many other people speed.

A few years ago the City chose to removethe parking from both sides of Grand to open up traffic flow. Several people in Gulls Cove and Liberty Harbor vehemently objected to this because of the danger. In response, the City ultimately put some of the parking spots back on the south side of the street, but that still has not addressed the issue.

I have contacted councilman Fulop about this and he has been responsive. But a lot more people need to contact all actors and insist that changes be made.

When several of us initially objected to the opening up of Grand, city officials insisted that it was necessary because studies showed that with the growth of Liberty Harbor, there would be significant traffic on Grand. Liberty Harbor is not going to be significantly expanding any time soon, so that point carries no weight. But we have always felt that the city prioritized commuter traffic to the tunnel and the waterfront over the well being of pedestrian safety.

I would be very interested in hearing suggestions as to how this situation can be improved. I walk my child to school and have to cross Grand every day, and I am frightened by the prospect of when she gets older and is ready to walk to school by herself.

A few thoughts that I have, which I would admit are not magic bullets....

1. Put parking back on all sides for the entire length of Grand. Make it a one lane street each way with a turning lane.

2. Reconfigure the traffic lights so that the lights and walk signs stay green going North-South for longer periods of time. In addition, make the change to Walk automatic and not contingent on pressing the button.

3. Put a moratorium on any action to open up Jersey Avenue through Liberty State Park.

4. This one may be tricky, but further narrow the streets through the installation of a bike lane. My concern here is that because of the driving culture this would actually be more dangerous.

5. Perhaps another possibility would be the installation of a center median down Grand in the style of Ocean Parkway.

I would like to hear what others have to say as well.

Joshua

Speeding on Grand, headed east towards the waterfront. Impact occurred right after the first crosswalk at grand and grove street intersection. Cab immediately burst into flames upon impact and the crash launched the cab diagonally across to thenorth side of grand street past the Taqueria building. The other car went out of control but stayed on the south side of grand street, took out the light by the second crosswalk and then continued further down grand to crash into another pole in front of the basketball courts at the boys and girls club (this is where the pedestrian was hit and killed/ murdered.)

Happened around 9 ... entire area was awash in emergency lights. The crash took out the traffic lights, too. The speeding person had to be on Grand, Grove comes to a T and a rear-end wouldn't make sense on Grove.


Edit: And that hook in the road on Grand right after the hospital going east doesn't help these NASCAR wannabes, either. No one is ready for that sudden swerve to the left; it puts oncoming vehicles at risk because the east-bound left laner over-compensates and swerves into oncoming traffic.

Was the driver speeding on Grand, or Grove? At what time did this occur?

Quote:


It's TWO innocent people, potentially three. The cab driver was severely burned and in critical condition. Haven't heard any updates on his status. Was the Gull's Cove resident in the cab or the pedestrian? These poor people! I believe a chef from Abondonza Tratorria (along with others from that restaurant or Taqueria) tried to pull the passenger in the cab out of the car window but they couldn't get him through. Just an awful thing to happen.

He killed an innocent man who was on his way home to Gull's Cove. I hope he gets the maximum sentence as well.

What a horrible accident. Know a guy who witnessed it. The person who caused the accident was probably attempting to flee the scene but he actually did not. He was walking around, almost like he was a witness. My friend was standing right next to him at one point, as he waiting to give his statement to the police. The police went up to him and asked him if he was the driver. He denied it, was acting all weird and then one of the cops put his hand on the guys chest, felt his heartbeat racing. They went ino the car, he had left his wallet inside, and then identified that it was him and he was cuffed immediately.

Hope the mayor and Fulop are paying attention. Just a matter of time before this was about to happen. Something needs to be done about enforcing the speed limit on grand street. This wasn't even a peak time for this road and if it happened an hour or two earlier, even more people could have been hurt or killed.

Hope the guy who did this gets a maximum sentence for his crime. Our thoughts go out to the victims and their families.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-733223?ref=feeds%2Flatest

having a hard time shaking this one. driver fled the scene but is now in custody.