Bigger sidewalks a bit of heaven in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen for pedestrians

Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood just got a little less hellish for pedestrians and cyclists.

And, later this year, similar changes are coming to some streets near Penn Station.

In Hell’s Kitchen, "super sidewalks" have been installed on Ninth Avenue between 59th and 50th streets — shrinking the space for automobile drivers and reserving more space for pedestrians.

Before the changes, four lanes were specifically automobile travel lanes; under the new design, there are just three.

So in addition to the existing 15 feet of traditional sidewalk on the east and west sides of the street, the east sidewalk is now abutted by 11 feet of newly beige-painted space only for pedestrians.

Another part of the project for later this year, protected bike lanes — meaning, separated from traffic by parked vehicles or concrete barriers — will be installed one block west, on 10th Avenue.

Jeffrey LeFrancois, who chairs Community Board 4, which covers the area, said that neighborhood sidewalks used to be bigger, but were shrunk in the mid-20th century to make room for automobiles.

“This is a significant reclaiming of the sidewalks in Hell’s Kitchen that had long been handed over to the automobile,” he said Wednesday in an interview.

LeFrancois cheered the changes. But, he said, he wants enforcement and stronger barricades, not just the plastic bollards that motorists sometimes drive over, including NYPD cops in nonemergencies, commercial drivers and out-of-towners who improperly park vehicles, as has happened at other "super sidewalks" in the city, sometimes with impunity.

“Our expanded sidewalk space should not be a parking lot,” he said.

The changes to the roadway coincide with $231 million in upgrades to the water distribution system, according to a news release Tuesday from New York City’s Department of Transportation. The agency “seized on that opportunity” — for work begun in 2012 — to commission “a full roadway reconstruction and street redesign,” the release said.

Those changes to the roadway — which goes south — also shortens pedestrian crossings and establishes new commercial loading zones by removing rush-hour regulations along the avenue’s western curb.

There are also new pedestrian islands and “offset crossings” — which “improve visibility between cyclists and turning drivers by reducing motorists’ ability to make sharp-angled turns,” the release said.

Similar changes are planned for later this year between West 30th and West 34th streets, farther south on Ninth Avenue, just west of Penn Station, near Moynihan Train Hall.

Plans there include a painted sidewalk expansion, which had already been previously installed on Seventh and Eighth avenues; a midblock crosswalk, three new pedestrian islands and a painted curb extension.

On 10th Avenue, the city is planning to install protected bike lanes from West 14th to West 52nd streets.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.