By Eric Jankiewicz
The city is finally tackling a fatally dangerous intersection that straddles the border between Ridgewood and Bushwick. Two people have been killed at the intersection since 2009.
The area, a six-point intersection where Myrtle Avenue, Wyckoff Avenue and Palmetto Street meet, is the site of frequent car accidents. The city began studying it in 2014 with street safety workshops.
“This is a problem area, to say the least,” a DOT representative said in 2014. “So we’re looking very closely at this area. The injuries and deaths need to stop.”
At the intersection, there are 25 different turns that cars can make. Between 2008 and 2012, 29 people were injured in some combination between the intersections, according to data collected by the transportation department. The city wants to ban five turns for all car drivers and extend curbs for pedestrians in order to shorten the distance people need to clear the intersections.
The city is also addressing the problem by changing the bus routes of the B26 and the Q58. In addition, the city is changing the terminal station that is shared by both buses on Wyckoff Avenue and Palmetto Street. The new B26 last stop is being moved to Palmetto Street on the far side of Wyckoff Avenue and the The proposed changes would have the Q58 turn right onto Ridgewood Place, then right again on Palmetto Street, while the B26 would turn left onto Putnam Avenue, right onto Ridgewood Place and right onto Palmetto Street. The changes will start Sunday.
There have been fatalities on both bus lines over the last several years.
A Q58 bus struck and killed a man in 2014 while the driver was making a right turn from Wyckoff Avenue onto Palmetto Street, according to police. The rear wheel of the bus hit the man, who was dead by the time he reached the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
In 2013, a B26 driver made a right turn onto Palmetto Street and killed 23-year-old Ella Bandes.
The DOT refused to comment on why it took a couple of years to respond to these deaths with altered routes.
ßReach reporter Eric Jankiewicz by e-mail at ejank
