NYMTC Regional Pedestrian Safety Study - New York Metropolitan ...

I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Study Origin and Objective
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) is an association of governments
and transportation providers, which serves as the metropolitan planning organization designated
for New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. It provides a collaborative
planning forum to address transportation-related issues from a regional perspective and plans and
makes decisions on the use of federal transportation funds. The NYMTC region includes New
York City, Long Island and three counties in the lower Hudson Valley. It encompasses an area of
2,346 square miles and a population of 12.3 million in 2004, approximately 64% of New York
State's population (NYMTC, 2004).
The Voting Members are:
Counties of Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
New York City Department of Planning
New York City Department of Transportation
New York State Department of Transportation
The Advisory Members are:
Federal Highway Administration
Federal Transit Administration
New Jersey Transit
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
In April 2000, NYMTC established the Safety Advisory Working Group (SAWG) to provide a
forum to facilitate interagency discussion, exchange information, address safety and advise its
members on issues dealing with transportation safety. SAWG is also tasked with enhancing and
expanding safety planning in all elements of NYMTC’s metropolitan transportation planning
process, including NYMTC’s plans, programs, and activities.
Due to the events of September 11, 2001, SAWG was not able to hold its first meeting until
January 2003. The first task of the SAWG was to identify the priority safety topics that the
members would want to address. Pedestrian safety was by far the leading topic of concern
among the agencies and therefore selected as the first topic to be studied.
The first step for the study was to determine the status of pedestrian safety and the related
investment needs in the region. This report identifies the pedestrian safety issues and
recommended countermeasures to improve pedestrian safety in the region. The method was to
interview the agencies and organizations within the region about their existing activities and
NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Study 1