On May 22, 2020, within one month of launching The New Leaf Journal, I published my first investigative expose: The Downed Stop Sign in Vinegar Hill. One report on a fallen street sign led to others. I subsequently covered two downed Stop Signs in Brooklyn Heights, a downed Truck Route sign between Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, a fallen Dead End sing in Red Hook and then another fallen Dead End sign in Carroll Gardens, a fallen No Standing Anytime sign (leading by example), and two separate fallen One-Way signs in Brooklyn Heights and in DUMBO. I published that second fallen one-way sign, which was the last fallen sign I had covered, back on March 2, 2024. 27 months have past, and it is well past time for this website to return to its roots. I present, for your appreciation, a fallen Double Arrow sign found in Columbia Street Waterfront District.
I documented this fallen Double Arrow sign on the morning of June 6, 2026. To be precise since there is more than one street sign with two arrows, this is a W12-1 Double Arrow sign according to the Manual of Traffic Signs. While the sign, in its intended upright orientation, “may be used to advise road users that traffic is permitted to pass on either side of an island, obstruction, or gore in the roadway,” the state of repose I found this particular sign in suggests that at least one driver went right down the middle (I believe this one had been on an island).
I took this photograph on Columbia Street between Congress and Warren, across the street from the Columbia Street Greenway (see approximate location). Most of my Columbia Street Waterfront District articles have covered events and scenes further down in the neighborhood, closer to Red Hook. However, the fallen sign lies horizontally in an area very close to Brooklyn Bridge Park on the other end of the neighborhood. (It was also close to the third of three desks I documented in Three Free Desks in Brooklyn (and a Mirror)).
While the Columbia Street Greenway side is pedestrian friendly (so long as the bikes and other wheeled vehicles behave), crossing Columbia there is not at all pedestrian friendly (the situation begins to improve about two blocks down in the direction of Red Hook), so I hope the Double Arrow sign is soon restored to ensure proper order on Columbia Street.
