Bk. Board 4 Eyes R’wood Intersection
Brooklyn Community Board 4 heard a Department of Transportation (DOT) proposal to alter a busy intersection on the Brooklyn/Queens border at its meeting last Wednesday, June 18 at the Hope Gardens Community Center in Bushwick.
Project Manager Kessia DeLeo presented the agency’s plan to make the intersection at the confluence of Myrtle and Wyckoff avenues and Palmetto Street in Ridgewood safer for pedestrians and vehicles.
As previously reported in the Times Newsweekly, the intersection was determined by an annual DOT study to be among the top 20 high crash locations in the city.
The intersection is a multi-surface transit hub, with elevated tracks carrying the J and M trains to meet the L at Myrtle-Wyckoff, and the B13, B26, B52, B54, B55 and Q58 buses.
“There’s heavy pedestrian volumes here with all the transit use,” DeLeo said.
Long crossing distances and poor visibility under the elevated subway tracks and support columns, especially at night make the intersection dangerous for pedestrians, a DOT study reported. The DOT reported 29 total injuries, with 15 to pedestrians and two fatalities from 2008-2012.
One of the problems is the meeting of three streets, which creates “a six leg intersection,” DeLeo said. The heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic, long crossing distances and unpredictable traffic movements leave drivers and pedestrians vulnerable to injury, she added.
The intersection is dangerous “because it has three streets intersecting and has 20 movements at once,” she said.
“Over half of the crashes were pedestrians crossing with the light. This indicates a failure to yield of passing cars,” DeLeo said.
Proposed changes to the intersection include: installing five painted curb extensions to shorten crossing distances and slow turning vehicles to better align the skewed intersection; painting wide, high visibility crosswalks on all legs; modifying the light signal times to allow pedestrians more time to cross; and banning certain turn movements, the DOT said.
Five low-volume turn bans at peak hours will be implemented.
Turn bans will not affect MTA buses, DeLeo said.
“The turn bans help reduce conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles,” she stated.
The proposed banned turns include; right turns from Palmetto Street northbound onto Myrtle Avenue eastbound; right turns from northbound Wyckoff Avenue onto Myrtle Avenue eastbound; left turns from westbound Myrtle Avenue onto southbound Wyckoff Avenue; right turns from southbound Wyckoff Avenue onto westbound Myrtle Avenue; and right turns from eastbound Myrtle Avenue onto Wyckoff Avenue southbound, according to the DOT.
Following the presentation, DeLeo took questions on the proposal from Board 4 members.
Cyril Joseph asked if similar proposals to increase pedestrian safety would be coming to Broadway.
“We actually do have the a project in the works for Broadway in Brooklyn,” DeLeo said.
But at Myrtle and Wyckoff “we really want to remove some movements from the intersection,” she added.
“We keep this as an ongoing process. We also want to try and ensure pedestrian safety,” DeLeo said.
If approved, the proposal would be implemented in July and completed sometime this summer.
Another board member then asked if The DOT is considering alterations to other multi-legged intersections along Myrtle Avenue.
“We are definitely looking at other intersections along Myrtle Avenue,” she answered.
District Manager Nadine Whitted voiced some concerns over a taxi stand on Palmetto Street and asked if it were removed, “perhaps it will be freed for parking.”
Whitted also related that there was a discrepancy between DOT officials she met with as part of the presentation to the Board 4 Transportation Committee as to where the taxi stand was located, and if it was an officially sanctioned one.
“I know there is that taxi stand on Palmetto street, so we will look into that,” DeLeo answered.
Responding to concerns about overflow onto arterial streets when the project is completed, DeLeo said, “we also evaluate the surrounding street network and will continue to evaluate in the future. ”
Liquor license requests
Whitted advised Board 4 that a letter was written to area elected officials asking for a moratorium on the expansion of new State Liquor Authority (SLA) requests in residential areas.
“The letter is just asking our elected officials to halt the influx of these bars and restaurants coming into our community,” Whitted said at last Wednesday night’s meeting.
“We are finding we are getting many concerns in residential districts,” she added.
Wolff-Alport update
Board 4 Chairperson Julie Dent updated the group on the Superfund site at the former Wolff-Alport Chemical Company. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently securing a contractor to begin remedial investigation and a feasibility study, according to Dent’s monthly report.
“The purpose of the remedial investigation is to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the site and the potential risks to humans and wildlife from the site contaminants,” Dent wrote. “The purpose of a feasibility study is to identify and evaluate the cleanup alternatives.”
Information in her report included a community update from the EPA.
The shuttered company operated at 1125-1139 Irving Ave. and 1514 Cooper Ave. on the Ridgewood/ Bushwick border from 1920 to 1954.
The company processed monazite sand at the site to extract rare earth metals. Monazite contains 6 to 8 percent thorium, a radioactive element, the EPA reported.
The site was placed on the federal National Priorities, making it eligible for Superfund dollars in May. The EPA determined soil and nearby sewers were contaminated by radioactive materials from operations at the site.
The next Community Board 4 meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Hope Gardens Community Center, 195 Linden St. in Bushwick. All meeting begins at 6 p.m.
