15 MPH School Slow Zone Planned For Upper East Side Block

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The city plans to establish a new 15-mile-per-hour School Slow Zone on East 76th Street outside two Upper East Side private schools.

According to a Community Board 8 meeting on Wednesday night, the reduced limit would cover East 76th Street between York Avenue and the southbound FDR Drive, where the Town School and Lycée Français de New York are located.

The speed limit change is thanks to Sammy’s Law, a state measure that gives New York City more local power to lower speed limits.

The law is named for a 12-year-old who was killed by a speeding van near Prospect Park in 2013. Under the law, New York City can now reduce speed limits to 20 mph on most streets and allow 15 mph zones near schools.

In a letter from the Department of Transportation dated July 20, the East 76th Street location has already been approved for a new School Slow Zone.

It's part of a larger plan to install 15 mph school slow zones at all 2,300 eligible school locations by the end of his current term in 2029, Rafael Escano, a community coordinator at the Department of Transportation, said during the meeting.

Escano said the city cannot establish the zones outside every school simultaneously because each location requires new signs.

“It’s not possible to do every school zone at once, so it is done gradually for different districts and different schools,” Escano said.

Board member Sebastian Stafford introduced a resolution supporting the East 76th Street change and urging DOT to expand the program.

“I’d like to move a resolution in support of the proposal here, and further call on DOT to expand this to as many schools in our district as possible,” Stafford said.

His motion passed with two abstentions and will be heard by the full board later this month on Sept. 16.

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.