DOT Touts Safety Projects Across The Borough
Pedestrian countdown signals (PCS) have been installed at 66 intersections along Queens Boulevard, the latest in a decade of safety improvements made by the city Department of Transportation (DOT) to bring sustained reductions in pedestrian injuries and fatalities along the sevenmile corridor, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced.
The installations were among over 2,100 countdown signals installed boroughwide in 2011 and are in addition to traffic safety and mobility projects completed last year at 44th Drive; at 36th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard, both in Long Island City; and at Woodhaven Boulevard, making it easier and safer to drive, walk and bike in the borough.
Once dubbed the “boulevard of death,” Queens Boulevard saw 18 pedestrian fatalities at its height in 1997. There were one or two such fatalities a year since 2004 and zero pedestrian fatalities in 2011, the first time this has been recorded since 1983, the year when detailed fatality records were first kept.
There also was a record-low 62 traffic fatalities of any kind in all of Queens in 2011, part of the 242 traffic fatalities citywide-the fewest since records were first kept in 1910, according to the DOT.
“Safety numbers are more than statistics, safety is a non-stop campaign to prevent unnecessary, avoidable tragedies on our streets,” said Sadik-Khan. “Though these tragedies are less common for pedestrians on Queens Boulevard today, we do not take these gains for granted and continue to take aggressive steps to make our streets even safer.”
The seven-mile stretch of Queens Boulevard was the focus of intense and sustained safety engineering efforts, helping bring all categories of traffic fatalities down from a high of 24 in 1993 to four last year. The DOT has made safety improvements along the wide and densely trafficked road, including:
– installing pedestrian countdown signals on Queens Boulevard from 32nd Place to 56th Avenue;
– lowering the speed limit on Queens Boulevard from 35 to 30 mph;
– installing 15 electronic boards displaying the speed of passing motorists;
– adding eight red-light cameras to the corridor over the last 10 years;
– installing 46,000 linear feet of pedestrian fencing along the entire corridor to prevent jaywalking;
– installing median tip extensions with concrete protection barriers that enhance safety for pedestrians crossing at 52nd, 54th, and 56th streets as well as 51st, 55th, 56th and 57th avenues;
– installing high-visibility crosswalks at several locations between Van Dam Street and Roosevelt Avenue;
– reducing the number of lanes pedestrians have to cross at many locations;
– retiming traffic signals to give pedestrians a head start in crosswalks;
– closing cross streets at 33rd and 40th streets to provide safe pedestrian spaces;
– upgrading signs and modified signals to provide more pedestrian crossing time;
– working with the Department of Design and Construction to redesign the intersection of Union Turnpike at Queens Boulevard; and
– installing safety signs alerting pedestrians of particularly challenging crossings.
Other DOT improvements boroughwide in 2011 include:
– 44th Drive: At the Long Island City community’s request, DOT implemented a traffic-calming project along this high-crash corridor, improving street markings, making crosswalks more visible and installing bike lanes.
– 36th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard: Enhanced the intersection to include safer, more direct pedestrian crossings and connections to the Roosevelt Island Bridge sidewalk.
– Jackson Heights: After an extensive community consultation, improved parking, signs markings, signals and implemented turning lanes in addition to a new pedestrian plaza on 37th Road.
– Maspeth Bypass: After a yearslong study and analysis, implemented a new plan to reduce the impact of trucks through residential neighborhoods and redesigned the complex, accident-prone intersection of Maurice Avenue, Maspeth Avenue, 56th Terrace, 58th Street and 57th Place.
– Woodhaven Boulevard: Improved signal timing and simplified lane striping to eliminate congestioncausing unnecessary lane-changes and expanded pedestrian space to enhance safety. The agency continues to study the area and meet with the community as it develops additional strategies to reduce congestion and improve safety.
A map and list of the 1,500 pedestrian countdown intersections citywide can be viewed online at www.nyc.gov/dot. As of early October, countdown signals have been installed at 842 of these intersections, including major arteries in all five boroughs such as Grand Concourse in the Bronx, 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island and Broadway in Manhattan.
The installation of pedestrian countdown signals was announced as part of DOT’s Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan. The study was based on an examination of over 7,000 crashes causing serious injuries or fatalities to pedestrians and identifies underlying causes.
The analysis found that serious pedestrian crashes are about twothirds deadlier on wider street corridors like the ones slated for pedestrian countdown signals.
