Protests Lead To controls For Queens Blvd. Safety Police launch Crackdown On Illegal Parking And Jaywalkers

New pedestrian and vehicular safety controls will be installed on Queens Blvd. at an accelerated pace by the city Transportation Dept. (DOT), following a Monday meeting with Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, it was learned by The Queens Courier.
Traffic deaths on Queens Blvd. have averaged one per month since January 1993, according to figures released by the DOT.
Currently in the design stage, the second phase of a $3 million program, partially funded by Shulmans office will cover a 2.2-mile stretch of Queen Blvd., between the Long Island Expwy. and Union Tpke.
Plans call for DOT crews to install additional pedestrian Walk-Dont-Walk signs, widen the center medians, install mid-block barriers, and install improved channelization markings of complex corners. Construction on the project had been expected to start in Sept. 2001.
The DOT has also announced that a traffic safety education team will blanket the areas schools and senior centers to alert young and old pedestrians to the dangers of jaywalking. Special warning signs will also be posted to warn pedestrians against mid-block crossing.
Police teams from the 104, 110 and 112 precincts have been assigned to provide a safety presence along stretches of Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills, Sunnyside, Woodside, and Elmhurst. They are enforcing double parking, bus stop, and fire hydrant parking regulations, as well as moving violations via four radar enforcement teams. Police will also provide a jaywalking patrol for the elderly and children, who provide the highest accident and casualty rates.
Its heavy vehicular and pedestrian volumes make Queens Blvd. a potential traffic hazard. During peak morning and evening rush hours, an average 5,000 vehicles hourly crowd Queens Blvd.s six highway and six service road lanes.
Pedestrians crossing the congested roadway must walk past 12 moving lanes of traffic  a stretch wider than Times Square. Yellowstone Boulevards oddly-angled intersection, says DOT spokesman Tom Cocola, makes Queens Blvd. 16 lanes wide.
Late last November, the DOT completed Phase I on Queens Blvd., between 67 Dr. and 70 Rd. City crews installed anti-jaywalking fencing, new street lighting at complex corners, new traffic lights were installed at 68 and at 70 sts., and engineers increased pedestrian crossing time by 60 percent (from 25 to 40 seconds) along this busy half-mile long roadway.
Meanwhile, Councilmember Walter McCaffrey (D-Woodside) announced completion of a $600,000 safety upgrading of Queens Blvd. malls, between 58 and 63 sts., last Thursday. Constructed in just four months by the Parks Dept., the project includes raised malls, a wrought iron fence, ground cover, trees, and anti-jaywalking pedestrian safety barriers.
McCaffrey has also expressed concern about Queens Blvd.s 35 M.P.H. speed limit, which is faster than the citys standard posted speed limit in residential areas.
"I believe that the agency is more concerned with moving traffic than taking into consideration the safety of pedestrians," said McCaffrey. "The agency does not realize that these motorists are speeding through residential neighborhoods."