CBS2 Investigation: Congestion Leaves Pedestrians In Danger On Seventh Avenue In Midtown
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Seventh Avenue has become a scene of madness in Midtown, with people risking their lives just to get home.
But as CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, advocates say it doesn't need to be that way. But the pedestrian free-for-all takes place every weekday evening for hours.
On weekday evenings, the crowds on Seventh Avenue near Penn Station are reminiscent of a chase scene in a monster movie, or maybe a marathon that is run in winter coats and business suits. But it is just a garden-variety weekday evening.
"You can't walk," said Donna Cermak of Levittown. "It's crazy."
"This is nothing normal," a man added.
Normal it may not be, but it is routine. People are so desperate to get on trains and get home, and the sidewalks are so ridiculously clogged along Seventh Avenue around Penn Station, that people walk and run in the street and put themselves in danger.
"If you take the street, it's a lot quicker," said Daniel DeMatteo of East Rockaway.
But it is also a lot more dangerous, as a desire to get home sooner forces those people way too close to cars, trucks, bikes and buses.
"This is very nuts," a bus driver said.
Donna Mannix Wantaugh admitted that she has nearly been hit more than once, and some drivers have also come into contact with pedestrians.
"I had pedestrians walk into the door earlier," said Matthew Canela of Wheatley Heights.
Transportation Alternatives executive director Paul Steely White called the situation appalling.
"This is a safety problem, and the mayor needs to do something about it," he said.
White added that the situation was "absolutely" a failure under Mayor Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero program for traffic safety.
"This is not acceptable in the era of Vision Zero," White said. "We should be providing adequate space for those pedestrians to walk."
He said the best solution is something many city drivers won't like -- one less driving lane approaching Penn Station for three hours every evening.
"The city can, when they want to, create these temporary pedestrian walkways with traffic cones," White said.
At the intersection of Seventh Avenue at 34th Street alone, the city recorded more than 27 crashes with injuries since 2014.
And those are only the ones serious enough to get reported.
The Department of Transportation would only say, "We are looking into it," and referred us to the NYPD which handles enforcement.
But even an increased threat of getting jaywalking tickets won't deter all of the rush hour runners.
Laura Collins of Long Beach, Long Island said if people are ticketed or directed to move to the sidewalk: "They would have really angry New Yorkers then. That's not going to happen!"
Traffic officers are seen in the intersections at rush hour, but they focus more on traffic than on people walking in the streets, Carlin reported.
