Thanks to the efforts of elected officials, advocates and community groups, Queens arterials like Woodhaven, Northern and Queens Boulevards — regulars on TSTC’s annual Most Dangerous Roads for Walking analysis — may soon receive the safety improvements they so badly need.
Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Department of Transportation recently announced that Vision Zero will make its Queens debut on Northern Boulevard. New York City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer called for traffic safety improvements on Northern Boulevard earlier this year.
And at the state level, Senator Michael Gianaris has been pushing a bill in Albany that would make it a felony to drive with a suspended license when someone is killed or seriously injured in the process. There’s even momentum at the federal level: U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, is exploring solutions for pedestrian fatalities, and recently announced his Pedestrian Fatalities Reduction Act.
It’s not just elected officials who are looking to improve safety on Queens streets. Advocates seeking more immediate implementation of traffic safety measures have taken to installing their own DIY traffic-calming solutions near dangerous intersections throughout the borough.
With the hope for safer streets on the horizon, the New York City Department of Transportation must ensure that the changes made are truly transformative. Although the agency has recently implemented street safety improvements in western Queens, there have also been some missteps. On Jackson Heights’ bustling Broadway/Roosevelt Avenue, a commercial corridor with high pedestrian activity and high crash volumes, NYC DOT installed a metal barrier near the site of a fatal crash in an attempt to “deter unsafe crossings.” As MTR has pointed out before, using physical barriers to prevent pedestrians from crossing sends a message that pedestrians don’t belong on the street — the antithesis to complete streets design.
NYC DOT has already taken some very forward-thinking steps in Queens, such as Diversity Plaza, a much-needed public space in the dense Jackson Heights neighborhood. Moving forward along these lines, the agency should employ other effective traffic calming tools as outlined in the 2011 Jackson Heights Neighborhood Transportation Study, which include:
- Limiting traffic movements to create safer conditions at intersections
- Reconfiguring intersections to allow for buffered bike lanes and sharrows to facilitate bike/transit connection
- Relocating crosswalks
Many of the initiatives underway in Jackson Heights can be used as a model for more work to be done throughout Queens. In many neighborhoods, residents face limited mobility options. Expanding safe streets will not only prevent future tragedies, but also provide the transportation choices that residents and elected officials have been demanding.
de Blasio has got to be kidding ?
His Vision Zero Action Plan to make streets safer must not include Queens, or at least the town of Maspeth. E-mails about a major on going safety problem, to his office, Queens DOT commissioner Dalila Halls and NYC DOT commissioner Polly Trottenbergs offices go ignored and unanswered.
Almost 3 years ago, a group of residents along 70 St between 54 and 51 Aves asked the city to convert 70 St to a one way northbound. Our major concern after seeing parked vehicles being sideswiped and their mirrors torn off, as well as a number of fender benders, is for the safety of the children at IS 73. You see, many children, teachers and staff share the street with speeding school buses, racing TLC cars, parents dropping their kids off and the local citizens trying to get out and go to work. This is a narrow tertiary street. It runs from Queens B’lvd. to 54 Ave. where it ends at the entrance to IS 73. Someday, someone missing the stop sign, is going to drive through this “T” intersection and straight into the front entrance of this school !!! The city, in all its wisdom, moved the left turn lane on Queens B’lvd from 69 ST ( a secondary roadway ) to 70 St because of the volume of accidents. Drivers have discovered that they can avoid 6 or 7 traffic lights on 69 St by racing down our block.
On November 2, 2012, Community Board 5 received a letter from Maura McCarthy, former Queens DOT commissioner, responding to an October 18, 2011 request by the board for a one way conversion. Ms McCarthy responds by stating that traffic counts, street measurements, traffic circulation, area parking and the school congestion studies conducted by the DOT show that this area, and its pedestrians would be better served and safer as a one way street. The DOT recommends to the board that this conversion take place.
THREE YEARS LATER…….
We are still a two way street. Someone was hit by a car on 70 St one block before the school. 5 students were hit by a car that jumped the curb at 71 St and Grand Ave. One child later died. 70 Street ends at 54 Ave and the traffic funnels down 71 St to Grand Avenue.
Our local council member Crowely – useless in getting the DOT to get moving
Dot stated in the past it was a budgetary issue….we are talking 6 blocks here people !!! NOT all of Maspeth
CB 5 notifies residents by mail that the conversion will take place week of 4/14/2014…DOT now denies this
Where is the Action Mr Mayor.
You know the area well having filled potholes a few blocks away.
You demonstrated that our local streets make great speedways
Are you waiting to visit an injured or dead child and their parents before acting ?
Has your “vision” gone blurry ? or don’t you care about Queens ?
You can take action here with much better results – in a much shorter time span
The DOT states that it will not convert this street while school is in session. Makes NO sense. Spring the change on drivers all at once on a Monday morning after spring vacation, or on bus drivers, parents, and taxis who will NOT travel through here all summer!!! DOT workers can NOT work outside if the temperature is below 45….poor guys. Take a look at the faded, missing, and falling street signs in the area. Watch the next pothole patrol…how hard they work….and my point will be well made.
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