The city has completed a pedestrian safety and beachfront access improvement project along a stretch of Shore Front Parkway in Rockaway Beach. NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez joined Council Member Joann Ariola and members of Community Board 14 on Oct. 7 across from the Dayton Towers at Beach 77th Street to announce the safety upgrades.
These installations include a new all-way stop on Shore Front Parkway and Beach 81st Street, a new curb extension and enhanced crosswalk at Beach 77th Street and the reconstruction of the parkway’s medians at those intersections.
“Rockaway residents and visitors deserve year-round safe access to their beachfront and these new crossing locations will greatly improve safety and convenience for those walking to and from the shore,” Rodriguez said. “Through projects like these, NYC DOT’s relentless commitment to pedestrian safety has helped reduce pedestrian fatalities to historic lows in 2023, countering a nationwide trend of higher pedestrian deaths.”
The additional pedestrian crossing points improve safety for the high pedestrian volumes in the area by reducing instances of crossing without dedicated crossings and cutting down on the distance between legal crossings. Before the installations, there used to be 2,500 feet along the shore with no controls or crosswalks, meaning pedestrians in the area would either have to walk far in order to ger across or cross the roadway without dedicated crossings.
“This new protected crosswalk will go a long way towards ensuring the safety of pedestrians in the area, especially during the busy summer months where throngs of people cross Shorefront Parkway every day,” Ariola said.
The safety upgrades follow-up on improvements that DOT has implemented on a rolling basis since 2017 along Shore Front Parkway.
