The New York City Department of Transportation will use cutting-edge sensors to better understand how New Yorkers use their streets as a way to inform planners how to design safer streets.
NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn announced the city would use small, privacy-protected sensors to monitor street activity including pedestrians, cyclists, buses and vehicles to assess how people use the streets in New York City. The sensors have been previously tested at 20 intersections along a variety of corridors in all five boroughs. Officials said the sensors will be expanded to 100 locations citywide. With the data collected by the sensors, planners will be able to map the movement of pedestrians, cyclists and cars at intersections, officials said.
“Safer street design starts with understanding what is actually happening on the street,” Flynn said. “These high-tech sensors will help us evaluate how people are walking, biking, and driving so we can design safer streets and encourage safer behavior.”
The sensors will be mounted on NYC DOT street infrastructure and will anonymously analyze street activity including speeds, turning movements and how different users move on the street. For example, officials said, the sensors can identify areas where pedestrians are crossing mid-block instead of at crosswalks to identify where mid-block crosswalks would be beneficial.
Using sensors that operate continuously to capture changes in travel patterns by time of day, season and street design will allow planners to not have to rely on short-term, labor-intensive counts. The agency said it expects the sensors to evaluate the effectiveness of street redesigns and safety projects, identify high-risk locations, better allocate street space amongst pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles and improve access to transit, loading zones and local businesses.