What Happened to Half a Million Dollars Allocated for FiDi Study that the DOT Never Got Around To?

City Council member Christopher Marte is pushing the City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) either to complete a long overdue pedestrian study of the Financial District, or else return the $500,000 in funding that his predecessor earmarked for this project.

The issue is rooted in a 2016 move by then-City Council member Margaret Chin, who allocated half a million in discretionary funds to DOT to study mobility and pedestrian safety solutions (such as shared streets) for an increasingly congested Lower Manhattan. (This followed similar studies conducted by the agency in 1997 and 2010 that were completed but never implemented.)

In 2019, DOT announced that it was about to begin the study funded in 2016, but did nothing further. Three years later, Community Board 1 (CB1) enacted a resolution calling upon the agency to “account for the $500,000 mobility study promised in 2019,” and “develop a vision for a Financial District streetscape that prioritizes pedestrian mobility and safety.”

The DOT did not reply to this resolution, although a representative did assure CB1 in January of this year that the study would begin before the end of 2025. (A spokesman for the agency declined a request to comment for this story.)

In an August 28 letter to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Mr. Marte (who began representing Lower Manhattan in the City Council in 2022), says, “since taking office, I have been assured almost every season that the study will start the next season. When it has been Winter, I was told the study would start that Spring. When Spring came, I was told the study would start in Summer, and so on.”

“The time for excuses is over,” Mr. Marte continues. “The Department of Transportation must begin the study this Fall, or else all trust with the community will be gone, and I will expect the $500,000 allocated to this study to be returned to my Council office’s discretionary budget.”

In the intervening years, multiple local organizations have commissioned and completed their own studies, including one by the Downtown Alliance and another by the Financial District Neighborhood Association (FDNA).

The FDNA proposal, entitled “Make Way for Lower Manhattan,” seeks to reclaim large swaths of Lower Manhattan’s streetscape for pedestrians under a program that would widen sidewalks, take down construction scaffolds, decrease traffic, exile parking (especially by official vehicles), and create new public plazas. With the ultimate aim of creating new pedestrian and cycling arteries throughout the Financial District, the Association wants to start by creating a “slow-street district” – between Broadway and Water Street, from City Hall to the Battery – within which vehicular traffic would be subject to a ten mile-per-hour speed limit.

The Alliance’s plan, “A More Welcoming Wall & Broad: A Vision for Improving the Stock Exchange District,” envisions transforming the area through innovations such curbless “shared” streets surfaced with historical contextual paving materials. The plan also seeks to create a distinct sense of place by erecting “gateway” structures at entrances to the zone. These interactive sculptural installations would serve purposes both aesthetic and informative, displaying text to give visitors way-finding directions and historical background. Elsewhere, the Alliance proposes installing street furniture that would act as bollards and security barriers, and double as benches and planters. The Alliance plan also contains logistical improvements, such as a centralized drop-off point for delivery trucks, from which parcels could be distributed using hand trucks or small vehicles.

Patrick Kennell, president of the FDNA, says, “I’m very happy to see Council member Marte prioritizing this important issue. It’s about time someone presses the DOT for answers. Yet, more than an answer to the question of what happened to our fully funded study, we need solutions, even if they’re temporary pilot programs to prove the concept. If the DOT does not give clear and direct answers to the Council Member’s questions, with definitive milestones, then Mayor Adams should pick up the mantle on this initiate and prove he cares about FiDi pedestrians’ safety and promoting innovative ideas that benefit New Yorkers.”

Mr. Marte adds, “It has been almost ten years since DOT was given the money to do this study, and if they had delivered when promised, this plan could already be in place. Instead, the agency has delayed and delayed, betraying the trust of the residents who live here. With tens of thousands more people now calling the Financial District home, we cannot afford to wait any longer.”