20th Avenue Widening Plans Completed

Final designs for the proposed widening of bottlenecked 20th Avenue, between the Whitestone Expressway and Parsons Boulevard, were quietly released last week by the city Department of Design and Construction (DDC). Bids are scheduled to be accepted later this winter.
Plans call for construction of four full lanes to replace the narrow, heavily-traveled three-lane roadway.
Much of the roadway space for the new lane will come from the sidewalks, gardens and driveways of the 15 homeowners living on 20th Avenue. Adding insult to injury is the citys claim that it is merely retaking its property which was encroached upon when the homes were built decades ago.
"The overriding necessity for this work," said DDC spokesperson Elizabeth Harris "requires that the city is given access to the citys property it had not needed until now."
Calling the plan "shortsighted," Councilman John Liu declared, "If the DOT wants to do more than give lip service to addressing the problem, it must look at real solutions, such as extending Linden Place to 20th Avenue."
The state DOT has already widened the adjacent northbound Whitestone Expressway service road by constructing a right turn lane into eastbound 20th Avenue.
Three key factors highlight the citys seeming haste to widen the two roadways:
A three-year state accident study (July 1997-June 2000) of the corner of 20th Avenue and the expressway service road shows an average of 10 accidents every 13 weeks.
During the past decade, city DOT traffic studies show rush hour volumes soaring 40% on 20th Avenue and 38% on the Whitestone service road.
These heavy volumes and accident rates are on streets and corners adjacent to the giant, block-sized George U. Harvey Playground.
Government attorneys are acutely aware that under the legal provisions of "constructive notice," their agencies are obligated to take prompt remedial steps to correct safety problems and other traffic irregularities.
Failure to act responsibly would entangle the city in a myriad network of expensive lawsuits involving fenderbenders.
City crews will also install new storm and sanitary sewers, a new water main, new street lights, as well as repainting new traffic lanes and pedestrian crosswalks. City crews will also remove a large bulkhead that extrudes into an unused lane on the south side of 20th Avenue.
As if to emphasize the areas mounting traffic volumes, the Sanitation Department has begun conducting hearings on the feasibility of funneling more than 1,000 additional garbage trucks per week into a nearby depot on 31st Avenue.
Victor Ross is a freelance writer.