Friday, December 10, 2010

DOT still clueless on Little Neck Parkway

From Douglaston Patch:

Douglaston and Little Neck residents said that the unintended consequences from recently instituted traffic changes near Little Neck's Long Island Rail Road crossing just got worse.

"It's made a real mess for us up here," said Larry Sheehan, referring to a new safety zone extending approximately 75 feet from an existing traffic median north of the at-grade Long Island Railroad crossing on Little Neck Parkway.

Workers painted the new zone on Monday, weeks after widespread complaints by residents, community leaders and elected officials about unsafe conditions and blocked traffic caused by the median installed in September.

"It doesn't solve anything, but just creates more confusion," said Douglaston Civic Association president Eliott Socci. 

According to Sheehan, who lives in the neighborhood north of the LIRR tracks, the new safety zone forces northbound motorists on Little Neck Parkway at night to effectively break traffic laws.

"Now you have a scenario at 6 p.m. where cars can park there and the traffic is directed right into the rear of the cars with nowhere to go, because you can't go into the safety zone," he said.

A quick survey of the intersection during daylight hours Tuesday had several motorists traveling north on Little Neck Parkway illegally crossing into the new painted safety zone to make a tight U-turn onto Sandhill Road — precisely the kind of maneuver the most recent traffic change aimed to prevent.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's amazing how drivers will complain about any change that forces them not to behave like dangerous jerks. Stop your whining and drive responsibly.

Joe said...

That crossing is a bit of a Joke. The LIRR pedestrian track cross over stairs leaves you in the center of a lot of the MTA's garbage dumpsters and kids smoking pot.

Detective McNutty said...

@anonymous

Did you read the article? It said residents, community leaders and officials complained. Your bias is so obvious when you assume that drivers complained.

Anonymous said...

KAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN

neversleep said...

Anyone familiar with that section of Little Neck knows that as you continue north, there are bends in the road that make U-turns even more risky.

The alternative is to increase traffic around what is otherwise a very isolated and quiet residential block where kids have played in the street for years.

This is typical of the imperious DOT, and some of the comments are equally typical of morons who can't come up with anything constructive to say.

Anonymous said...

Let me guess, brainless Sadik-Khan AGAIN?

Anonymous said...

Hey according to CB 7 kids should not be playing on the street. Kaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnn.