By Patrick Donachie
Kew Gardens has the worst streets in the city, according to an analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office.
The streets of Queens are in fairly good shape, with only Brooklyn streets in better condition, according to the report. The IBO analyzed Department of Transportation data to come to its conclusions.
The neighborhood with the worst percentage of quality streets is Kew Gardens, with only 28.2 percent of the streets in the neighborhood considered “good” quality.
City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) said the IBO’s report on the DOT data served as confirmation for a well-known fact in her district, with many roads in poor conditions. She said many Kew Gardens streets had been ripped up in the past year to replace water and gas main lines, which she said the IBO report did not necessarily take into account.
“My office was constantly communicating with various New York City agencies while these efforts were going on, working to ensure that the community’s concerns about water shutoffs, fire hydrant placement as well as milling and paving schedules were addressed,” Koslowitz said.
The councilwoman, whose district also includes Forest Hills, Rego Park and parts of Richmond Hill, said she had put numerous requests into DOT for surface repair work, requests she said were still pending, and had met with the Queens DOT commissioner to discuss the issue.
The DOT performs a street quality assessment on a rolling basis for 18 months, rating sections of each street in the city with a rating from 1 to 10. The DOT categorizes 1-3 as “poor” quality, 4-7 as “fair” and 8-10 as “good.”
In Queens, the IBO determined that 71 percent of streets in the borough were rated as “good.” Citywide, 70.2 percent of streets were found to be in “good” condition, with 29.2 percent of the streets listed as “fair” and 0.6 as “poor.” Brooklyn was the borough with the best-rated streets, with 75.1 percent listed as “good,” while Staten Island was found to be the borough with the fewest number of “good” rated streets, at 59.6 percent.
In the Bronx, 68.5 percent of streets were labeled “good,” while in Manhattan the percentage was 66.3.
The best rated neighborhood for streets in Queens was Laurelton, with 84.9 percent of streets rated as “good,” according to the IBO’s analysis. A neighborhood-by-neighborhood map can be found at the IBO’s website at ibo.nyc.ny.us.
Additonal reporting by Mark Hallum. Reach reporter Patrick Donachie by e-mail at pdona
