Councilman Robert Holden penned a letter last week requesting the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) install a pedestrian ramp at the intersection of Stanhope Street and Fairview Avenue in Ridgewood in an effort to make it safer for elderly pedestrians to cross.
“The recent installation of crosswalks and stop signs has made the intersection safer to cross,” Holden wrote in a letter to the DOT. “However, it remains inaccessible to aging New Yorkers and persons with disabilities. Residents anticipating this change will still have trouble crossing the street unless a cut is made in the curb.”
The intersection of Stanhope Street and Fairview Avenue, which sits outside of Grover Cleveland Park, received a crosswalk and a stop sign back in December, thanks to the advocacy of the Crosswalk Fantasy organization.
This intersection had long been viewed as dangerous for members of the community.
In 2019, a man died due to head trauma when he was hit by a car attempting to cross the street to get to his home. He lived just a block away from where the accident had occurred.
In a tweet from the Juniper Park Civic Association last week, the group criticized the DOT and Holden’s office for their alleged inadequate effort to add a pedestrian ramp at the intersection.
According to Holden, his office thought the DOT would have added a pedestrian ramp when the crosswalk and stop sign were installed.
“Because it was a bad corner, and we just assumed they would put the pedestrian ramp in there on one side, it’s missing,” Holden said.
According to a DOT spokesperson, the installation of pedestrian ramps will be in the 2023 construction schedule as part of the effort for additional street safety in the city.
