NYC Council bill would create ‘low-traffic neighborhoods’ across the city
Some New York City Council members want to transform several areas into “low-traffic neighborhoods” by redesigning streets to divert through-traffic away from residential blocks. The bill, set to be introduced on Thursday by Council Member Shaun Abreu, chair of the council’s Transportation Committee, would require the city to install at least two types of “traffic-calming devices” in each neighborhood, such as speed bumps, medians, or barriers at intersections, as first reported by Gothamist. The measures are intended to slow traffic and discourage drivers from cutting through residential streets while maintaining access for emergency vehicles and delivery trucks.
The legislation, co-sponsored by Council Members Selvena Brooks-Powers and Shahana Hanif, was inspired by conversations Abreu had with lawmakers in London, England, where officials have implemented their own low-traffic neighborhoods (LTN).
The bill calls for a two-year LTN pilot program that involves installing at least two traffic calming devices in five neighborhood areas. As part of the legislation, the city would have to study the number of car crashes and the noise levels in the areas and make recommendations surrounding the maintenance and installation of the calming devices.
“It allows any vehicle, whether it be private cars, deliveries, emergency vehicles, and sanitation, to allow access within its boundaries, but traffic simply cannot cut through,” Abreu told Gothamist.
“We believe in this day and age, with all the collisions we’ve been seeing, especially from our cars, we think we can have safer streets with that.”
Open Plans, a street-safety advocacy group, says its research indicates that LTNs are among the most effective strategies cities around the world have used to reduce cut-through traffic.
The nonprofit organization says community boards in three boroughs have already called for their neighborhoods to be considered for LTN pilots, including Brooklyn Community Board 6, Manhattan Community Boards 7 and 9, and Queens Community Board 6.
The four boards have asked the Department of Transportation (DOT) to study cut-through traffic and explore potential solutions.
Council Members Tiffany Cabán, Julie Won, and Shekar Krishnan have also expressed support for LTNs, writing to the DOT to urge the agency to study cut-through traffic in their districts and consider them as potential pilot locations.
In a statement, Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans, called the bill a “common-sense solution” to street safety concerns and excessive traffic on residential streets.
“Low Traffic Neighborhoods are a common-sense solution to growing problems caused by reckless, cut-through driving and excessive congestion,” Lind said. “We’ve heard from neighbors across the city about the impacts of overwhelming traffic and dangerous driving on their streets, and this bill addresses those concerns with a proven solution.”
“We urge the Council to advance this legislation without delay and create more thriving, livable communities,” she added.
The legislation’s introduction comes a few weeks after Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled his long-awaited version of the Vision Zero plan. It reimagined the original initiative’s goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries while introducing more than 100 policy commitments for the next decade.
Organized around eight “big-picture goals,” the plan includes pedestrian-only zones, safety redesigns for nearly 200 Vision Zero priority corridors that have yet to receive treatment, and stronger enforcement against reckless drivers.
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