Photograph courtesy aggrowth.com
I’m writing here not about agricultural silos but the strikingly similar organizational silos. Merriam-Webster’s third definition of “silo” is
an isolated grouping, department, etc., that functions apart from others especially in a way seen as hindering communication and cooperation.
What I’m concerned about here is how different aspects of an accessibility project, or any undertaking for that matter, can be segregated into different entities, working against an integrated accessibility solution. An accessibility project at a transit station might belong to a transit agency, but the pathways to that station are the responsibility of, say, a local department of transportation. The funding for the accessibility project pays for the design at the station but not for pedestrian improvements required for safe access.
Approximate location of future Parkchester-Van Nest station. Photograph by Michael Cairl.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) recently announced the award of a contract to design and build Penn Station Access, bringing Metro North Railroad’s commuter trains along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to Pennsylvania Station for the first time. Tracks and overhead electric power for the trains will be added, as will four new stations in the Bronx. For a lot of money this will give people in the East Bronx another transportation option and will be another baby step toward a regional commuter rail system. The new stations will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but there is no guarantee that station design elements that are problematic but ADA-compliant won’t result. See my previous post, “Armchairing.” In September 2021 I went to look at the sites of two of these stations: Parkchester-Van Nest (see my post “Central Bronx Mix No. 1” on the Other Walks Around Town page) and Co-Op City. My work assignment was to develop a work scope for the design of these two stations. The Parkchester-Van Nest station will be on a section of East Tremont Avenue approximately midway between traffic signals 0.5 mile (0.8 kilometer) apart. When I walked the site this looked like a ready-made speedway. The scope I prepared for the Parkchester-Van Nest station included a signalized intersection and crosswalk across East Tremont Avenue from the Parkchester housing complex to the station, and a bus lane at the station. This was deleted from the scope because (a) it was seen as adding to the bid cost, (b) it wasn’t included in the preliminary design, and (c) the street work was the responsibility of the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), not the agency awarding the contract, the MTA.
I’m quite willing to entertain a solution other than a signalized crossing here, as long as traffic is slowed to a safe enough speed that people of any ability can cross East Tremont Avenue safely. Let’s look at the best way to achieve this objective.
The site of the Co-Op City station is about a block from the end point of several bus lines. How will safe and accessible passage between the buses and the train station be implemented? The buses and trains are in the MTA’s jurisdiction but the bus stops and sidewalks belong to NYCDOT. One wonders.
The MTA and NYCDOT might well work together to create safe, accessible paths to the four new stations, and then they might not, for reasons ranging from cost to the boundary between the two agencies’ jurisdictions, to traffic engineers’ calculations of the impact on traffic flow. This is a clear example of siloing and disregards the fact that a complete, integrated project of this type has to be a safe and accessible one. Accessibility and safety cannot be add-ons, treated as checklists, or hoped for by the cooperation of separate entities. They have to be integral to the design and execution of the work, starting with conceptual design and continuing through regular operations.
Looking at this as an exercise in system engineering, let’s start by defining the system. The system is not just the train station. The system includes the train station, safe operation of local (Metro North) and express (Amtrak) trains through the station, and safe passage of the traveling public between the train and the side of the street opposite the station, and onward to connecting transportation (bus, taxi, ride share, paratransit). This has to be the system definition for projects of this type. Full stop. No exceptions.
Taking a system approach to accessibility is essential for the achievement of accessibility in public and private spaces. It requires the demolition of organizational silos. This requires different approaches to project organization and perhaps to project financing. So be it. Let’s organize accessibility about doing the right thing, not living with present organizational constraints and hoping for the best. We - professionals, advocates, elected officials, the general public - should accept nothing less. It is to this that I now devote my work.