Thursday, November 5, 2009
Call for Cross Bay guard rail
From the Daily News:
A coalition of Broad Channel residents is calling for a new pedestrian barrier to be installed along a dangerous stretch of Cross Bay Blvd. where fatal car accidents are common.
Local attorney Christina Andrea Hall said she and others have gathered more than 700 signatures in favor of erecting a guard rail to protect people on a pedestrian path near the local bird sanctuary.
Area residents say the stretch is the longest in Queens without a stoplight.
"There's nothing to protect pedestrians for 2 miles," said Hall, who lives near the strip. "We have people walking with baby carriages and little children learning to ride their bikes."
Joanne Kodetsky and her dog were walking along the path in April when they were tragically mowed down by a driver who lost control of her car.
Plans were in place to install a heavily vegetated buffer zone between the boulevard and pedestrians in the 1990s, but it never came to fruition.
The chief of the local volunteer fire department said that telephone poles and trees are knocked down regularly in auto accidents on the boulevard between Broad Channel and Howard Beach.
4 comments:
The worst part is that Hellen Keller could drive this stretch of road safely. The sightlines are clear, the road is straight, all one has to do is avoid excessive speed and watch the road.
How about ENFORCING already existing speed limits?
Its not even the speed limits here that are the problem. The speed limit on this road could easily be 55 and there wouldn't be a problem. Drunk driving in the summers is a big problem here, people hopped up from Rockaway bars and parties get onto this road and kill each other, drag racing happens there too. More cops (probably costing the local precincts a lot in over-time pay) won't necessarily solve the problem so much as carefully timed DUI road blocks and a guard rail
How about a strategically placed stoplight? It only needs to last long enough to slow people down. I run on this strip of road everyday. And everyday I am fearful that something will happen to me. The cars fly past doing 65-70mph. There's one light by the entrance to the bird sanctuary that effectively slows cars down before the speed limit drops to 30mph (when they have to stop at the light). There should be another one between that light and the bridge to Howard Beach.
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