Astoria is cracking down on speed demons.
Community Board 1 voted overwhelmingly to approve the creation of a slow zone in the neighborhood in a public meeting on Tuesday.
The streets inside the boundaries of Astoria Boulevard to the north, Steinway Street to the east, 30th Avenue to the south and 21st Street to the west will all be included in the slow zone, which will be implemented later this summer. Those boundary streets (Astoria Boulevard, etc.) will not be part of the zone itself, but just the local streets inside.
The current speed of the affected streets, which include a long section of Newtown Avenue, will be reduced from the current 25 mph to 20 mph, and 14 speed bumps and new signage will be added throughout to remind motorists to reduce their speeds.
Residents — and even Councilman Costa Constantinides — have frequently complained to officials about speeding on 33rd Street in particular, which feeds into the Grand Central Parkway.
“My office is around the corner from 33rd Street, and my staff and I have witnessed numerous instances where cars and trucks speed down the block to make the following light,” Constantinides said in a letter of support for the slow zone plan to the community board. “Not only is this loud and disruptive, but potentially dangerous. Families living along these streets deserve peace of mind.”
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