By Kathianne Boniello
Bicycle riding will be banned on a pedestrian ramp over the Clearview Expressway in Bayside where a young boy was accidentally killed Aug. 17, the Queens commissioner of the city Department of Transportation said Tuesday.
Christopher Adams Scott, 11, of Bayside, was riding his bike over the pedestrian ramp near 46th Avenue when he steered directly into the path of a car going southbound on the service road. Another 11-year-old boy was killed six years ago in a similar accident involving the same ramp.
Before the DOT made several changes to the site after the latest accident, the ramp had ended abruptly where the service road began, letting pedestrians and bike riders immediately out onto the left lane of the service road.
DOT Queens Commissioner William Baier said changes already made to the area included: striping that closes off the left lane of the southbound and northbound service roads 150 feet before the ramp; neon pedestrian crossing signs; and the removal of weeds and trees that blocked pedestrian views of oncoming traffic.
Baier said the chain link fence was changed and the hand rails on the ramp were altered to shrink the opening of the ramp on either side from 10 feet to 5 feet. He said signs eliminating bike riding on the pedestrian ramp would be up within a week as well as signs alerting drivers to the new lane closure.
DOT was also in the midst of a 10-week signal study of the area to determine if either a traffic light or stop signs could be added on the southbound service road.
