A request to turn several Clinton Hill blocks into one-way streets hit a dead end amid vehement opposition from residents.
Opponents said the proposal to turn St. James Place, between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue, and all of Lefferts Place into one-way roads would aggravate drivers who would have fewer routes through the neighborhood and make the residential blocks more dangerous to pedestrians.
“Making a street one-way makes traffic faster,” Diana Marsh, who lives on St. James Place, said at a Community Board 2 Transportation Committee meeting on Tuesday night at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. “Cars will just cruise down the street.”
The St. James Place Block Association originally submitted a request to the Department of Transportation to implement the changes, but then no member of the civic group showed up to speak in favor of the traffic change.
One alleged benefit of sending traffic south on two blocks of St. James Place and only east on Lefferts Place would make it easier for cars to double-park during street cleaning, which is more strictly prohibited on narrow two-way streets.
The community board backed critics of the plan.
“It does not seem to solve any problems and it would create more,” said Kenn Lowy, a member of the committee that went on to unanimously oppose the suggested street re-routing.
