By Alex Christodoulides
The community has been asking for a traffic light on 73rd Avenue where it intersects with Jewel Avenue and 179th Street as a deterrent to speeding and to make the crossing safer for pedestrians. At the Feb. 27 event at the Utopia Jewish Center, the DOT's Maura McCarthy told the Fresh Meadows Homeowners Civic Association that a light was not in the cards and offered alternatives.”I know the one thing people want is a traffic signal,” she said. “We have done studies and the intersection doesn't meet a number of conditions.”About a year ago, on Feb. 25, 2007, a man was killed driving with his wife and son at the intersection of 73rd Avenue and 181st Street, which the community expected to translate to a new traffic light along the avenue.Hillcrest Estates Civic Association President Kevin Forrestal asked what it would take for the DOT to listen to local residents.”We have a situation where the community has repeatedly requested a signal,” he said in frustration. “All the meetings and dollars spent [on studies] could've easily paid for a signal.”McCarthy said the DOT studied the intersections along 73rd Avenue at 174th, 175th , 179th and 181st streets, but none met the criteria for traffic signals, which have a huge volume of traffic crossing at right angles or a high number of pedestrians.The city agency offered three proposals for the intersection:¥putting up “speed boards” that flash a driver's speed,¥widening the bike lanes to narrow the roadway on the avenue or¥changing the traffic flow by making 179th Street one way northbound and turning the end of Jewel Avenue, currently a one-way street between 73rd Avenue and Utopia Parkway, into a dead end with two-way traffic flow.McCarthy did not commit to any plan, but listened to community concerns.Jesse Rosenbaum, chairman of the Community Board 8 Transportation Committee, requested that 179th Street remain a southbound street “because it's the only thoroughfare that crosses Union Turnpike.”Michael Simanowitz, chief of staff to state Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn (D-Flushing) and a candidate for City Councilman James Gennaro's (D-Fresh Meadows) seat in 2009, asked whether the DOT would force a choice on the community if CB 8 rejected the proposals.”If you decide to do nothing, it's certainly cheaper to do nothing,” McCarthy said. “If you decide to do nothing after you requested that something be done, I'll take that back to the commissioner.”
