Thursday, September 3, 2009

Woodhaven Blvd awaiting safety improvements


From the Daily News:

Traffic analysts are studying whether outfitting Woodhaven Blvd. with reconfigured intersections, more medians and a right of way for rapid-transit buses would curb backups and accidents, city officials said last week.

A city Department of Transportation report expected next year on the north-south thoroughfare will also consider signal-timing changes and restrictions on where drivers can turn, agency spokesman Scott Gastel said.

DOT expects to host four more forums - some for the public, others just for community board members and elected officials - before pitching its final proposal to the boards in the spring.

Locals who attended last week's session blasted the city for dragging its feet on the study, which covers a 3.2-mile stretch of Woodhaven Blvd. from Queens Blvd. to Rockaway Blvd./Liberty Ave.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're lucky Bloomberg doesn't come out to Queens. He might decide to put bike lanes on Woodhaven Blvd. and turn most of it into a pedestrian mall.

Anonymous said...

GO CROWLEY!

Anonymous said...

Here come the bike lanes!

Anonymous said...

If they're serious about reducing congestion they should reactive the LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch, which parallels Woodhaven Blvd. for its entire length. Connect it to the Queens Blvd subway, extend the V to B116 St, and people in Rockaway and South Queens will have a one seat train ride to Midtown. They wouldn't be forced to drive or take crowded buses up Woodhaven to the Queens Blvd. subway anymore.

The project would be a huge capital investment, but if we can spend $1 Billion to extend the 7 train to nowhere, maybe we can find some money to expand service where it's needed.

Anonymous said...

Bikes and beach chairs is Bloombuck's idea of traffic improvement.

panzer65 said...

I have heard that proposal about reactivating the Rockaway beach branch so many times!!It should have been completely activated when the city took over a portion of it after Rockaway Blvd., the chances of this happening are slim to zero giving the strong NIMBY factor. We wont even see a complete Second ave subway until Kingdom Come!!

Anonymous said...

If the community would barely consider turning the Rockaway Branch LIRR ROW into a park/bike path (an idea that has some merit), do you really think a reactivation of the railroad is any more likely?

It would make sense for the City to reexamine the bike trail option on the ROW before it decides to paint bike lanes on Woodhaven. So much sense, we can count on it not happening...