Safety: TA's report Dangerous By Design (PDF)

Department of Transportation's Prospect Park Drives Alternative Use Study:
Many of us who want a car-free park live in neighborhoods closest to the park. So it makes sense that we would want to know what would happen to traffic on our neighborhood streets if it couldn't go through the park. In 1997, the NYC Department of Transportation presented a traffic study that postulated traffic patterns resulting from various closings. Prospect Park Drives Alternative Use Study shows that if the park drive is closed to motor vehicles, all but one of the intersections surrounding the park can maintain Level of Service (L.O.S.) “C” (on a scale of A–F, with D, being very common for NYC). The one intersection is the basis for the DOT's assertion that a full closure is "not feasible." However, in the study, the DOT assumed that all motor vehicles now using the park drive shift to adjacent local roads once the park was closed. In contrast, the NYC DOT’s 1992 Central Park Study assumed that 15% of motorists would stop entering the study area, adjusting their route to fit the conditions. If the Prospect Park study took this into account, the one intersection in question would remain at an acceptable L.O.S. “C.” The numbers the DOT produced in the study were promising. Now, it's time for a three month trial car-free period.

TA's Analysis of Prospect Park Drives Alternative Use Study