This month marks the start of a safer era at the deadly Myrtle/Wyckoff Avenues intersection on the Ridgewood/Bushwick border.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that on Wednesday, Sept. 21, it would start to install the long-awaited pedestrian plaza project at the six-legged intersection at Myrtle Avenue, Wyckoff Avenue and Palmetto Street.
Installation is expected to be completed and the plaza will be fully operational by Saturday, Oct. 1, according to DOT.
The area has been marked by the DOT as a priority intersection and is ranked in the top five intersections for pedestrian fatalities in the city, with three deaths since 2009.
One of those killed at the intersection was Ella Bandes, whose parents pleaded with Community Board 5 (CB 5) earlier this year to vote in support of DOT’s pedestrian plaza plan to make the intersection safer, which they did with a unanimous vote.
According to DOT, the new plaza will:
- close Wyckoff Avenue between Gates and Myrtle avenues and create a pedestrian plaza;
- convert Wyckoff Avenue between Myrtle Avenue and Madison Street to one-way southbound;
- adjust signal timing to give pedestrians more time to cross and to give more green time to Myrtle Avenue and Palmetto Street;
- expand existing gravel curb extensions at intersection; and
- install new crosswalks across Wyckoff Avenue at Madison Street.
By closing off this section of Wyckoff Avenue, DOT aims to create a true transportation hub between the L/M train station and the Ridgewood bus terminal, both heavily trafficked areas.
