The Upper East Side could soon become one of the slowest neighborhoods in Manhattan to drive through.
At a Community Board 8 Transportation Committee meeting Wednesday evening, members voted to advance a resolution calling on the city Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit to 20 miles per hour on every eligible street in the district, which runs from 59th to 96th between Fifth Avenue and the East River.
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The resolution, introduced by committee member DJ Falkson, invokes the city’s authority under Sammy’s Law, the 2024 state legislation that allows New York City to set its own speed limits below the 25 mph state floor. If the full board signs off later this month and DOT acts on the request, virtually every avenue and cross street in the district would see its posted limit drop by five miles per hour.Falkson argued the change would put the Upper East Side in line with a growing list of community boards, including Manhattan boards 1 through 6 and several in Brooklyn and Queens, that have already passed similar resolutions. He pointed to crash data presented earlier in the meeting showing that pedestrians struck at 20 mph are dramatically more likely to survive than those struck at 25.
Committee member Sebastian Clarke supported the resolution, citing data suggesting that 23 pedestrians who died in the district over the past decade might still be alive had the lower limit been in place. He also noted that average vehicle speeds across much of the district already hover below 20 mph during peak hours, meaning the change would primarily affect drivers who speed through empty streets or race to beat lights.
A DOT representative told the committee that a formal resolution from the board would trigger a department study of the request, but cautioned that any implementation would still require DOT engineering review.
Not everyone on the committee was on board. Member Michele Birnbaum voted against the resolution, arguing that a district-wide speed limit change was too broad to vote on without specific public notice on the agenda. She maintained the committee should have limited Wednesday’s vote to three school-zone speed reductions also under consideration, which passed unanimously and will lower limits to 15 mph near Hewitt, Dalton, and St. David’s.
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Co-chair Chuck Warren disagreed, noting that DOT would still need to return to the board with specific street-by-street proposals before any changes are implemented, giving the public additional opportunities to weigh in.The full Community Board 8 will vote on the resolution at its meeting on May 20.
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