In one week, two more lives were claimed along Fifth Avenue in North Bay Shore, which ranks as one of the most dangerous roads for walking in Suffolk County according to Tri-State’s annual report.
A 59-year old pedestrian was hit and killed last Monday morning while trying to cross Fifth Avenue at the intersection of Marvin Road, and just a few days later, a 63-year old bicyclist was killed riding along Fifth Avenue at the intersection of Jensen Road—each crash was within just two blocks of each other. And according to Tri-State’s analysis, a pedestrian was hit and killed in 2011 at an intersection between these two crashes.
In response to these most recent tragedies, Suffolk County Legislator Thomas Barraga, who along with Legislator Ricardo Montano represents the area, sent a letter to Suffolk County’s Department of Public Works (DPW) requesting a study to determine what can be done to make the corridor safer for pedestrians, cyclists and all users of the roadway. In the letter, Legislator Barraga notes that the intersections where these fatalities occurred “have no traffic signals and lack sufficient sidewalks for pedestrians to walk safely along this busy road.” There is no word on whether Legislator Montano has taken similar action.
Fifth Avenue has five travel lanes designed to move cars as quickly as possible and little to no pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure which creates dangerous conditions for the road’s most vulnerable users. The location of these recent fatalities lacks crosswalks, pedestrian and traffic signals, medians, consistent sidewalks or bike lanes, making it a harrowing experience for walking and biking.
In order to make Fifth Avenue — which has seen at least nine pedestrian and cyclist fatalities in the last five years — safer for all road users, any DPW study must recommend a speedier implementation of Suffolk County’s Complete Streets Law, passed nearly a year ago.
The Complete Streets law doesn’t require retrofitting every existing roadway…
That said, I’m not sure a “study” is needed. Seeing how there aren’t even sidewalks on both sides of the street, that “adding sidewalks” would be a prime goal ASAP. Also a “given” is (based on the photo here, at least) there doesn’t seem to be adequate street lighting, and one of these fatalities occurred in the dark (6:10 am in October, is dark).
Once you do those two improvements, you can do two more very quick observations to determine whether a road diet is warranted: speed counts (peak and off-peak) and volume/congestion observations (two days max). October is actually a prime time to do traffic counts: schools are open, pre-holiday season, typical traffic patterns, and not too cold to dissuade people from walking/biking.
RIP to those two people, and thoughts for the drivers involved…who may or may not have even been doing anything wrong…