Pol To DOT: Make Street Safer
Local representatives stood at the corner of 39th Street and 51st Avenue in the Blissville section of Long Island City last Friday, Aug. 24 to call on the Department of Transportation (DOT) to take steps to alleviate dangerous conditions that reportedly occur daily at the intersection.
“We are sitting on a traffic nightmare, a ticking time bomb that could result in serious injuries or fatalities,” warned City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer.
According to Van Bramer and Stephen Grande Jr., a resident of the block, drivers routinely attempt to avoid traffic on the Long Island Expressway service road by illegally turning onto the southbound one-way street and driving northbound for one block, until 39th Street becomes a two-way street, or by backing up the one-way street in reverse.
Grande took a video from his window which brought attention to the situation; he told the Times Newsweekly that the situation is most noticeable during the morning rush hour. While there is a building that receives commercial deliveries, most of the traffic, he claimed, is residential.
“Hopefully there’s not a kid crossing the street coming home from school,” he said.
According to Van Bramer, local officials including his office and Community Board 2 have been talking to the DOT for over two years in an attempt to have the issue taken care of.
“What we are saying to the Department of Transportation is ‘now is the time,'” he said; “we cannot afford to wait one more day.”
“This is a battle we’ve been waging with the DOT for too long,” added Board 2 Chairperson Joseph Conley. “It’s such a simple fix.”
In a press release issued later that day, Van Bramer made several suggestions to fix the situation, including:
– install a “No Right Turn” sign on the service road at the northeast corner of 39th Street to deter traffic from turning onto the residential street;
– introduce traffic-calming measures along 39th Street, such as striping and painting the street or installing an extension to the sidewalk (called a “jug handle” by the lawmaker) to narrow the corridor;
– increase enforcement, either from the 108th Precinct or from the addition of a dedicated traffic agent to the street.
