It's a common phenomenon in New York City: You approach an intersection to cross the street, but your vision is blocked by parked cars. So you inch your body—and the stroller you're pushing or the dog you're walking—out into the road to get a clear glimpse, praying that a driver, who cannot see you because of those very same parked cars, isn't barreling into your path.
Other cities—notably Hoboken, New Jersey—have taken major steps to end this problem by aggressively "daylighting" their intersections. Why can't New York City pedestrians have clear sightlines too? How hard could this be?
According to the Department of Transportation: very hard, and very expensive.
At a meeting of the City Council's Transportation Committee on Monday to discuss a "universal daylighting bill" that would prohibit drivers from parking within 20 feet of an intersection, the DOT testified that it would cost $3 billion to install infrastructure at every one of New York City's 40,000 intersections to prevent drivers from parking there. That figure roughly amounts to double the entire agency's budget.
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