DOT shelves plan to convert 86th Street

After getting a negative response from Ozone Park residents, the Department of Transportation (DOT) said it would not implement its recent proposal to convert traffic flow on a portion of 86th Street. Enacting such a proposal would make the street dangerous, residents warned.
“We are not going to go ahead with the plan,” said DOT Spokesperson Scott Gastel.
The plan, which was sent to Community Board 9 by DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy in July, says: “In order to improve traffic circulation in the area, we propose that 86th Street be reversed to one-way southbound from 101st Avenue to 103rd Avenue, making the entire segment of 86th Street one-way southbound.”
The DOT announced this proposal after reviewing traffic circulation in the area and noting that 86th Street runs southbound from Atlantic Avenue to 101st Avenue, but northbound from 103rd Avenue to 101st Avenue, McCarthy said.
Community Board 9 rejected the proposal in a 25 to 10 vote on Tuesday, September 16, since Ozone Park residents do not want this conversion, fearing that would make 86th Street dangerous.
“If they redirect traffic, they’re just inviting car accidents,” said Eric Ulrich, president of the local Our Neighbors Civic Association, explaining that the point where 86th Street intersects with 103rd and Liberty Avenues would become unsafe.
Currently, when people drive from 86th Street onto 103rd Avenue they look to their left and right, but often neglect to look in front of them; this would be a problem if the street is converted because drivers would then have traffic coming towards them, Ulrich explained. “Leave it as it is,” he urged.
That’s exactly what the DOT decided to do after becoming aware of the residents’ concerns.
The same night when Community Board 13 rejected the 86th Street proposal, it expressed its full support for the DOT’s plan to convert a segment of nearby 84th Street, between Liberty and Atlantic Avenues, from two-way to one-way.
Currently, that section of 84th Street, despite its narrowness, allows for two-way traffic. This creates a “kamikaze situation whereby speedy cars dodge each other and routinely swipe mirrors off parked cars on both sides of the street,” said Ulrich in August.
Nine months ago, residents on that street sent a petition to the DOT expressing these concerns. As a result, the Department drafted a proposal to make the changes the residents asked for.