The city Department of Transportation (DOT) will be installing traffic control signs adjacent to three College Point schools within the next two weeks following residents’ pleas for safety measures in the area.
Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal, Senator John Liu and Councilman Paul Vallone were informed earlier this week of the DOT’s approval for an all-way stop sign, after urging the department to install traffic calming measures for the safety of students and drivers alike.
The signage will be placed at the intersections of 124th Street and 14th Avenue, 126th Street and 23rd Avenue, and 129th Street and Ninth Avenue, which are adjacent to M.S. 379, P.S. 29 and P.S. 129.
Following pleas from concerned constituents and parents, the lawmakers penned a joint letter to DOT last November requesting a traffic study regarding the feasibility of installing traffic safety measures near College Point schools. Given the density of the schools, tight thoroughfares and proximity to major traffic corridors, parents, residents and school administrators had long called for safety measures.
Rosenthal thanked Liu and Vallone for their collaboration, which he said will benefit the entire College Point community.
“I am happy to learn the Department of Transportation has heeded the pleas from the concerned parents,” Rosenthal said. “These traffic safety measures will help ensure children arrive and depart safely from their school day while also providing an extra element of driver safety.”
Keeping children safe is the highest responsibility of the government, Liu said.
“These stop signs will go a long way towards keeping kids safe as they go to and from their school. Thanks to DOT, Assembly member Rosenthal, and Councilman Vallone for their efforts in getting this done,” Liu said.
According to Vallone, safety for the community’s schools has been a top priority over the last eight years.
“College Point schools will now have additional traffic calming and controlling devices to help prevent reckless driving in their vicinity and make both families and faculty feel safer as they make their way to class every day,” Vallone said.
