Changes are coming to the heavily trafficked street surround Norwood’s most popular park.
On Wednesday, the Department of Transportation began work on a series of street level improvements on Reservoir Oval, which tracks around Williamsbridge Reservoir Oval Park in the Norwood section of the Bronx.
The work includes a complete repaving of the Oval, the creation of pedestrian areas at the park’s entrances, the painting of new crosswalks to allow easier park access, and the installation of “angled parking” to a piece of the Oval, according to the DOT.
The changes are modeled on the current configuration of the so-called 6th-and-a-Half Avenue in Manhattan and follow prior requests from Community Board 7 and other local advocacy groups, including the Friends of Williamsbridge Oval Park, for pedestrian safety improvements and expanded access to the park.
“We are writing to ask for your attention and assistance to expedite planning and implementation of pedestrian improvements at the entrances to our park,” read a letter addressed to Commissioner Sadik Khan in August of 2012 on behalf of Friends of the Oval, Community Board 7, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Bronx Council member Oliver Koppell, and StateSenator Gustavo Rivera.
“The street surrounding Norwood’s main park still lacks the most basic features of pedestrian safety and convenience,” the letter stated.
According to a recent presentation given to CB 7 by the DOT’s Pedestrian Project’s Group, , there were a total of 15 pedestrian injuries and 22 injuries to those driving a vehicle on Reservoir Oval between 2006 and 2012. Of those injuries, four were severe.
Five access along the Oval are being targeted for re-development.
The first spot, located between Bainbridge Avenue and Reservoir Oval East, will receive a new sidewalk connection between the street and the park’s entrance. Other areas facing changes include the intersection of Holt Place and Reservoir Oval where new strips of sidewalk and two new crosswalks, complete with “tactile walking strips,” to assist the blind and new crossing signage, will be constructed to allow easier pedestrian access to the park’s entrance.
The Reservoir and Putnam Place entrances will also receive new crosswalks connecting the sidewalk to the park. Additional crosswalks will be constructed near the tennis courts on Wayne Avenue, and will also link Bainbridge Avenue to Reservoir Oval West, near 208th Street.
The plan will also allow for a total of nine new parking spaces along the park’s edge, and will reduce the speed limit for cars traveling around the Oval to 20 miles per hour.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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I and many residents of this area disagree with the extensive work that was recently done around the Williamsbridge Oval Park. I do, however, sympathize with certain safety concerns… though the claims of 22 injuries raises an eyebrow that lends itself to further investigations. We don’t feel that justice has been given to other very serious issues “within the park itself” or within the community. Issues that the politicians have ignored and have slapped the hard working, tax paying voters of this community in the face. I can’t enumerate all these issues on this simple space, but these issues will be heard and they will be brought forth to those that “we” feel will serve us well. Our strength is our vote!