Howard Kamph says it’s “the worst block in the area.”
The Ozone Park Civic Association president says that 96th Street between Pitkin and 149th Avenues is pitted with potholes and is even missing sidewalks in some areas.
What’s worse, he says, is that he has been trying to have the Department of Transportation (DOT) fix the street since October of last year.
“The whole block is a disaster,” he said. “The craters are due to wear and tear and not being taken care of by the DOT. They’ve just gotten worse and worse, especially with this winter. But the DOT won’t mill it because it’s part of the HWQ411B [the decades-old Reconstruction of Albert Road Area] project.”
HWQ411B has been delayed numerous times since it was first proposed in 1981, but officials from the city’s DOT, Department of Design and Construction (DDC) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said that, if all goes according to plan, 2011 is when construction should begin.
The 28-block project will provide new roadways, sidewalks, sewers and water mains, all of which are desperately needed due to either nonexistence or serious deterioration, say residents.
In the meantime, Kamph said the roadway needs to be repaired.
Just last week, said Kamph, DOT crews filled in potholes in the center of the street – but he says this is not enough.
“It really needs to be emptied of cars – no parking – and the street needs to be repaved,” he said.
He is also requesting – since December of last year – that the DOT remove an old utility pole at Bristol Avenue and Centreville Street and place the signage on the new utility pole already there and outfitted, he said, with electric and cable lines and traffic lights.
The DOT has said that it will inspect the area and address pothole conditions.
