New Entrance To Cross Island Pkwy To Be Studied

Sparked by the City Planning Departments study of Bay Terrace traffic hot spots, the state Transportation Department (DOT) has agreed to examine an alternate Cross Island Parkway entrance to replace the current crowded parkway access, adjacent to Fort Totten, at the corner of Bell Boulevard and 212th Street.
At an onsite meeting with CB 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman, Bay Terrace civic leaders met with Director of City Plannings Transportation Division Jack Schmidt, and state DOT engineers Ian Francis and Chung-Koo Chiang. They examined the southbound Cross Islands emergency access opposite the Baybridge Commons as a potential alternate site.
The complex corner at 212th Street and Bell Boulevard currently accommodates traffic from the Bay Terrace community, Bell Boulevard, as well as vehicles heading for Fort Totten and the southbound entrance of the Cross Island Parkway.
Heightened daily traffic hazards are expected, starting next spring, when thousands of additional pedestrians will be heading to Fort Totten, which is being converted into a park by the City of New York.
State Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza, whose office has monitored the rising vehicular and pedestrian volumes into the twin entrances, declared, "I am pleased to see that the New York State DOT has taken the initiative to study alternate locations of parkway entrances."
The state will examine the feasibility of re-routing the sidewalks that enter Fort Totten, beneath the Cross Island Pkwy underpass. The move could also open up an extra lane of traffic at Fort Tottens congested entrance, without having to reconstruct the overpass.
Bitterman said that she was very pleased that the Department of City Planning had expanded its traffic study of The Bay Terrace shopping center to deal with the concerns of the community.
Phil Konigsberg, president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, said, "I was excited to see and feel that someone is finally going to start the machinery that would ease the safety and often the bottleneck conditions at Bell Boulevard and 212th Street by the entrance to the southbound Cross Island Parkway."
The onsite meeting also entered Fort Totten to follow up suggestions made by the City Planning study. Upgrading Fort Tottens pedestrian and vehicular safety concerns were proposed via recommendations to paint a series of park crosswalks, posting pedestrian push button controls at the park directional signs to the northbound Cross Island and Whitestone Bridge.
Schmidt said his agency will prepare a new parking lot design in order to maximize parking lot space for visitors.