By Kathianne Boniello
The city Department of Transportation informally told Haber last week that it had turned down the board's request for a traffic safety device at 46th Avenue and the southbound Clearview service road because there was not enough traffic in the area.
Christopher Scott, 11, was hit by a car and killed in August as he rode his bicycle across the pedestrian bridge and began to enter the service road, where there is no curb or buffer from the street. In July 1994 John Shim, 10, was killed in the same spot while riding his bike.
“We're not going to give up on this,” Haber said. “This is not a dead end at this point.”
Haber said Friday CB 11 had yet to receive any formal indication of the agency's decision.
CB 11 District Manager Anne Marie Boranian said last week “an answer of doing nothing [from DOT] is not going to be enough” for the community.
Haber said the board would compile its own statistics of how many children use the pedestrian overpass to get to school. Both MS 158 and PS 31 are adjacent to one another on Oceania Street, a few blocks away from the pedestrian bridge and the Clearview Expressway.
The Department of Transportation said last week that it had been unable to locate records confirming Shim's death.
“We'll keep badgering them,” Haber said of the DOT. “We'll be doing our own statistics – it will be another piece of evidence for them to go back into their study and adjust their numbers.”
The DOT's rejection of a traffic device came after a 10-week traffic study of the southbound Clearview service road in response to community outcry over Christopher Scott's death.
Haber said he had yet to set a date for a personal meeting with DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall to discuss the matter and to tour the intersection of 46th Avenue and the Clearview Expressway southbound service road.
