Between 2006 and 2008, 424 pedestrians and cyclists were injured (in blue) or killed (in red) in the town of Babylon. (Click to view in Google Map format.)
The Town of Babylon yesterday adopted a “Sustainable Complete Streets Policy” resolution, which makes the Town the first municipality on Long Island to do so.
Town Supervisor Steve Bellone has been a fierce proponent of sustainable transportation and land use policies in the past, and deserves particular praise for promoting safer streets. Seventeen pedestrians and cyclists were killed and 407 injured between 2006 and 2008, and Sunrise Highway, the second most dangerous road in the entire region for pedestrians, runs through the town.
The resolution, which is strong in its wording, calls for providing for the needs of drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and transit vehicles and users during the planning, programming, design, construction, reconstruction, retrofitting, and maintenance of all Town of Babylon roads.
In addition, the Town views all transportation improvements as “opportunities to improve safety, access and mobility for all travelers within the Town and recognizes bicycle, pedestrian and mass transit modes as integral elements of the transportation system.”
But only 29% percent of the Town’s pedestrian and cycling fatalities and 38% of injuries occurred along town roads from 2006-2008, according to a TSTC analysis. Sunrise Highway and many other dangerous roads are owned by the state. Others are county-owned. But the New York State Assembly so far has not advanced a complete streets bill, that had been overwhelmingly adopted by the State Senate nearly a month ago, which would apply to all roads receiving state or federal funds.
Image: TSTC Google Map using data from NYSDOT.
[...] New York State still lacks a complete streets law, despite the bill's overwhelming passage through the State Senate and the support of the Assembly's Transportation Committee. After a series of amendments in June, the Assembly bill now matches the stronger Senate version, but is stuck in the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Upper Manhattan rep Herman "Denny" Farrell. There were 424 pedestrian and cyclist injuries and crashes in the Town of Babylon between 2006 and 2008 alone. Image: TSTC [...]
[...] Policy: Complete Streets in Western New York by Nadine Lemmon While momentum is building on the local level in New York State for the passage of Complete Streets policies, the real test will be translating [...]
[...] Policy: Complete Streets in Western New York by Nadine Lemmon While momentum is building on the local level in New York State for the passage of Complete Streets policies, the real test will be translating [...]
[...] to adopt a complete streets policy. The policy’s enactment, which came weeks after the Town of Babylon passed its own policy, was spearheaded in a bipartisan effort by Supervisor Phil Nolan and [...]
[...] on the momentum begun by the Towns of Babylon and Islip, Brookhaven adopted a policy that “establishes a Sustainable Complete Streets [...]
[...] But local leaders in both states stepped up to the plate, passing complete streets policies in: Babylon, Monmouth County, West Windsor, Red Bank, Netcong, Islip, Brookhaven, Kingston, Elizabethtown, [...]
[...] Complete Streets policy on Tuesday, making it the fourth policy of its kind on Long Island, behind Babylon, Islip and Brookhaven, and the first adopted policy in Nassau [...]
[...] up all over Long Island, and Bellone should encourage the trend. The new County Executive should build on his work in Babylon and move Suffolk towards a more transit-oriented [...]