Glendale neighbors are at odds over a plan that will divert one block’s traffic to neighboring streets.
For years, residents and officials have pleaded with the Department of Transportation (DOT) to put the brakes on vehicles speeding down Doran Avenue.
Though DOT studies determined that cars were in fact speeding down the block, speed humps were unable to be installed due to the prevalence of driveways and utilities.
At the Community Board 5 meeting on Wednesday, July 11, Queens Borough DOT Commissioner Maura McCarthy presented a plan to curb the speeders — reverse the direction of Doran Avenue between Woodhaven Boulevard and 89th Street.
“We believe by splitting it in the middle, it will give the community better circulation to get to their homes,” McCarthy said.
Currently, the street runs westbound from Woodhaven Boulevard, and residents complain drivers rush down the block to beat the light situated on 88th Street.
“We have a problem on our hands, I see it and I live it every day,” said Regina Crowley, who lives on Doran Avenue and is the sister of Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley.
More than a dozen locals spoke at the meeting that had more than three times as many attendees as normal. The speakers were split nearly 50/50 on the plan.
“The proposal flies in the face of basic equity,” said Toby Sheppard Bloch who lives on Rutledge Avenue. “These changes will cause more traffic on Rutledge and 74th Avenue than is currently on Doran Avenue.”
Traffic that now travels on Doran would be diverted to the neighboring two-way streets, Rutledge and 74th avenues.
Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley agreed that the burden of traffic should not be dumped from one block to another.
“What we do need is to come up with a plan that the community board can accept and the surrounding streets can also agree with that will help decrease the speed of vehicles coming down Doran Avenue,” she said.
McCarthy said that the DOT anticipated residents on other streets would be concerned about increased traffic as a result of the change. The department surveyed the surrounding streets and found speed humps can be installed, but the blocks would have to wait for studies to be done after the plan is put into place.
“We don’t put a speed hump on a street unless there is speeding,” McCarthy said.
The plan went before the community board’s transportation committee, which met after the paper went to press.
