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Crossing Guards for Grown-Ups? Yes, Traffic Is That Bad

Preston Martin works as a pedestrian safety manager — a crossing guard for grown-ups, of sorts — on Varick Street in Manhattan, near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

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Elaine Vespermann waited on the corner for his lead.

Only when Preston Martin charged across six lanes of rush-hour traffic did she follow behind him. He waved at cars to keep them at bay. He watched over her until she reached the other side of the street.

After too many close calls, Ms. Vespermann, 38, a babysitter, does not like to cross by herself anymore. “He helps, always,” she said. “It’s very hard every day. There are too many cars and the people are crazy sometimes.”

New York City’s increasingly frenetic streetscape has become a gantlet for pedestrians forced to traverse multiple traffic lanes, weave around blocked intersections and sidestep bicycles and scooters whizzing by — all before the light turns from green to red. It is Mr. Martin’s job to make sure no one gets run over.

While school crossing guards have long shepherded children across the street, the city’s traffic has become so perilous that now even grown-ups need crossing guards. Officially known as pedestrian safety managers, they are vigilant escorts across some of the city’s busiest intersections.

They are not the traffic police; they cannot hand out tickets and their focus is not on keeping cars moving. Instead, they are bodyguards for pedestrians. As soon as the walk sign flashes, they are the first ones into the crosswalk. They shadow the elderly, the young and anyone needing extra time or care. They watch over everyone — especially those too distracted by texting or talking to watch out for themselves.

So far, they are a fixture in just one Manhattan neighborhood — Hudson Square, a fast-growing commercial hub that is about to become even more crowded with Google planning a $1 billion campus for up to 7,000 workers.

“The traffic is overwhelming,” said Doris Garcia, 44, a mother of four from Brooklyn who supervises the pedestrian safety managers in heat, rain and snow. “Pedestrians yell at drivers. If drivers don’t listen, sometimes we have to put our whole body in the intersection just to stop the cars.”

Across the city, 106 pedestrians were killed in crashes with motor vehicles last year and more than 10,700 other pedestrians were injured, according to traffic data.

The pedestrian managers stand guard over one of the city’s worst choke points: where Varick Street feeds into the Holland Tunnel. An average of 40,742 vehicles go through the tunnel every weekday to New Jersey and beyond, often backing up onto Varick.

Increasingly, this snaking tunnel traffic is competing with throngs of newcomers to Hudson Square. The neighborhood was once home to printing presses and other manufacturers, but has been reinvented as a thriving commercial area with more than 1,000 companies, many in technology, media and advertising. It has more than 50,000 workers and thousands of new residents following a 2013 city rezoning.

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The neighborhood has seen a surge in workers and residents in recent years and a local group began hiring pedestrian safety managers to help pedestrians navigate the busy streets.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

The stretch of Varick between Houston and Spring Streets has become one of the most dangerous in Manhattan. Though there have been no deaths, 119 people — including 40 pedestrians and nine cyclists — were injured in crashes from 2012 to 2016, the most recent year available.

Ellen Baer, the president of the Hudson Square Business Improvement District, came up with the idea for pedestrian managers in 2011, after seeing traffic managers expertly move people around a construction site at the World Trade Center. “What we’re trying to do is change the focus from cars to people, and put people first,” Ms. Baer said.

Now, the business district has expanded the operation from three weeknights to every weeknight, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., when outbound tunnel traffic jams the streets. (Incoming tunnel traffic enters Manhattan elsewhere.)

Up to nine pedestrian managers are on duty, often with two at a time in the busiest intersections. It costs $300,000 a year, or as much as other neighborhoods spend on street cleaning and trash pickups. The pedestrian managers are paid $22 to $25 an hour.

Ms. Baer calls them “pedestrian safety and sanity managers” because they improve the quality of life. They unblock crosswalks and intersections, deter jaywalking and even help to lessen honking. And they keep people safe; no injuries have been reported while they have been on duty, she added.

Though pedestrians come first, Mr. Martin, 49, has also talked down irate drivers stuck in gridlock. He leans over to chat about local sports teams. He listens to their woes. They have somewhere else to be. They are going to miss a flight. One man said he had to get to his pregnant wife.

While Hudson Square is the only city neighborhood with pedestrian managers stationed at intersections, they are also used on a limited basis near construction sites, shopping malls and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Other neighborhoods, Ms. Baer said, have expressed interest in starting similar operations.

The pedestrian managers are hired and trained by Sam Schwartz Pedestrian Traffic Management Services, a company run by Mr. Schwartz, a former city traffic commissioner. The company has 250 traffic managers working in New York, New Jersey and three other states.

The city’s Transportation Department requires pedestrian traffic managers to have at least five years’ experience working in law enforcement or in directing traffic and pedestrians at construction sites, and to receive specialized training.

The pedestrian managers in Hudson Square complete a two-day safety course, which reviews traffic rules, verbal commands and hand motions and gives pointers on avoiding being drawn into arguments. Then they are sent into traffic for on-the-job training.

Carl Vitale, who teaches the safety course, said some people have dropped out when they realize just what the job demands. “It’s not for everyone,” he said.

Michael Gary, 59, a pedestrian safety manager in Hudson Square who lives in East Harlem, said he liked helping people and had rescued pedestrians from close calls at least three or four times a week. “There’s never a dull moment,” he said.

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Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

There is no excuse for not seeing the pedestrian managers in their glow-in-the-dark yellow jackets. Mr. Martin joked: “I’m a human highlighter.”

Many pedestrians said they were less worried having the pedestrian managers there as an extra layer between them and cars.

“You just know that cars are going to stop when they see the yellow jackets,” said Karen Sweeney, 63, an administrative assistant who would like to see them in other neighborhoods.

Other pedestrians said they helped ensure a clear path across, took away the uncertainty of whether or not there was enough time to cross, and brought order to crosswalks that could turn chaotic.

Even some drivers approve. “I like that they’re around and help move the traffic,” said Anthony Pignalosa, 33, a security officer who was picking up his wife from work.

Still, some pedestrians and drivers have questioned whether these monitors are really necessary. “The traffic is still the same. It’s not like the traffic has improved,” said Evita Gossai, 35, an accountant who added that the walk light was sufficient.

Mr. Martin has his own system for keeping pedestrians safe. When there are four seconds left on the walk light, he walks back toward the curb and waves pedestrians back. Most listen, he said, but a few do not. They dart past him. He follows to make sure they make it across.

When things get ugly, the thanks from pedestrians are what keep him going. “We’ve got our regulars,” he said. “That really eases the pain out here.”

Every time one local businessman crosses, he bumps fists with Mr. Martin. A 2-year-old girl he calls “the first lady of Spring Street” smiles and waves, and presented him with chocolate eggs for Easter.

And there is Rachelle Fernandez, 34, of Queens, who is blind and uses a walking stick. They met a year ago, and now walk together most nights. “He does a very good job,” she said.

Ms. Fernandez showed up recently holding onto a friend. Mr. Martin protested, no, no, that was his job. She took his arm.

“It takes no effort for me to get her across safely,” he said. “I just feel I need to get her across the street.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: Crossing Guards for Grown-Ups? Yes, the Traffic Is That Bad. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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