Highway Stars

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Generations of motorists in Queens have been tormented by bottlenecks on the Long Island Expressway that have been just as predictable through the years as death and taxes.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday, Oct. 20, that the state’s Department of Transportation has begun construction on projects to add auxiliary lanes and improve exit and entrance ramps on the thoroughfare in Queens from the Little Neck Parkway all the way to 48th Street in Maspeth and Sunnyside.

“Investment in our state’s transportation infrastructure is critical for the continued expansion of a thriving economy,” Hochul said. “These much-needed upgrades will ease congestion and enhance safety along one of the most heavily utilized vehicle corridors in New York state.”

Construction has begun on a $19.7 million project that will lengthen three acceleration lanes and three deceleration lanes. Three auxiliary lanes will also be added between 48th Street and the Little Neck Parkway in Douglaston, improving traffic flow and allowing motorists additional space to exit and enter the highway.

“The overall safety on our streets and the modernization of our aging transportation infrastructure go hand-in-hand,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “This critical project will address both, and Queens is grateful for the state’s sizable investment in the much-needed revamping of the Long Island Expressway. We look forward to ensuring a safer, smoother ride for those who drive.”

The project will not expand the LIE to four lanes in the area nor expand the HOV lanes in Nassau County into Queens, according to a NYS DOT spokesman. Exit and entrance ramps at Kissena Boulevard, Utopia Parkway and Francis Lewis Boulevard will be extended by approximately 370 feet. Other safety enhancements will be installed at those locations.

Paris Hotel expanding

As seen from the Long Island Expressway. An expansion of the Paris Hotel. It doesn't seem like they're gaining all that much rentable space. Kind of surprised this place is still in business but there you go. Draw your own conclusions.

Sad sight along the LIE

148th Street and Horace Harding. What a coincidence that every store in this strip decided to move.

Forest Hills streets become truck parking lots

From CBS 2:

Forest Hills, Queens residents say their streets have become an illegal rest stop.

As CBS2’s Lisa Rozner reported, the neighbors said tractor trainers form all over the country are parking and staying put for days, and they say no one is helping the problem.

Tractor trailers measuring 53 feet long stick out like a sore thumb on the Grand Central Parkway Service Road near 64th Road, filling up blocks. The city Department of Transportation said it is illegal for them to be there.

Residents said in the last year, the problem has gotten out of control.

“A parking lot — like a truck parking lot,” said Raj Patel of Forest Hills. “At night after 9 o’clock, it’s very hard parking. You can’t find the parking. You’ve got too many trucks here parking on the service road
“Because of this car, there’s lots of traffic over here, OK?” “They have to put sign, OK? ‘No parking,’” said Rafik Yusopov of Forest Hills.

“And they’re an eyesore,” said Laura Shepard.

The DOT said 53-foot trailers are only allowed on the nearby Van Wyck and Long Island expressways.

New traffic pattern for LIE

Travel Advisory: Changes in Traffic Pattern on Long Island Exp at Grand Central Parkway Interchange, Starts 1/16. https://t.co/wc7GipylLV pic.twitter.com/jZM9RCeQuA

— NYSDOT New York City (@NYSDOT_NYC) January 12, 2017

From CBS 2:

Commuters on the Long Island Expressway in Queens can expect some major traffic changes starting this week.

According to the New York City Department of Transportation, traffic patterns in both directions on the LIE between exits 22A and 22C in Queens will shift starting at 10 p.m. Monday, if weather permits.

The DOT says the new traffic pattern will be in effect for 24 weeks.

The new traffic pattern is as follows:

• Eastbound traffic on the Long Island Expressway service road will be shifted towards the right, will all lanes together on the new bridge deck.

• Two lanes on the westbound side of the service road between exits 22A and 22B will be to the left of the concrete barrier, with one lane to the right. Drivers who wish to exit at 22B will have to be in the right lane.

• Eastbound traffic on the Long Island Expressway main highway between exits 22A and 22C will be split, with one lane left of the concrete barrier and two lanes to the right.

Not a smart move

From the Queens Courier:

A man attempting to cross the Long Island Expressway Saturday night was struck and killed by a car, police said.

The 34-year-old man was hit near exit 24 in Flushing at about 9:45 p.m. as he was trying to cross from south to north in the vicinity of 169th Street.

According to authorities, the pedestrian ran from the center wall of the expressway into the left travel lane and was struck by a Toyota Suburban. The driver attempted to brake and swerve to the right to avoid him.

Flooding was a pain last night

From the NY Times:

Torrential rain brought major New York City thoroughfares to a brief halt on Sunday evening as flash flooding overtook parts of Queens and Staten Island.

Little more than five inches accumulated, and the storm subsided shortly before 10 p.m., freeing up traffic along area roadways that were closed for about two hours. Though weather advisories remain in effect until Monday morning, and sScattered showers were forecast for the first half of the coming week.

Those traveling into the city on Monday should not expect delays, Nancy Silvestri, a spokeswoman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management, said.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning just after 5 p.m., and up to four inches of rain was reported in the city shortly afterward.

The Long Island Expressway was closed to traffic in both directions in Fresh Meadows, Queens. By 8 p.m., the Utopia Parkway, the Cross Island Expressway and the Jackie Robinson Parkway were mired by standstill traffic for several miles because of flooding, city officials said. The police were helping to cordon off roadways and to retrieve stranded motorists.

Water rescues on Jackie Robinson Pkwy near the Kew Gardens Interchange. Cross Island Pkwy major flooding in northern Queens. @NYCFireWire

— Long Island Weather (@liweatherman) May 31, 2015

Traffic Alert. Cypress Avenue and Vermont Place closed due to vehicle in sinkhole. pic.twitter.com/harqTPu0Rt

— NYPD 104th Precinct (@NYPD104Pct) June 1, 2015

DOT to clean pigeon poop from under LIE

From the Forum:

Maspeth’s councilwoman helped secure a new contract that would clean up the crud underneath several underpasses in the area.

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Maspeth) announced an agreement with the state Department of Transportation honing in on the maintenance of underpasses below the Long Island Expressway on 74th Street and 80th Street in Maspeth. The spots have become nesting grounds for the unsightly things pigeons leave behind, the councilwoman said, but not for much longer.

“These underpasses are used by pedestrians going everywhere from P.S. 58 in Maspeth High School, to Elmhurst Park and the shops on Grand Avenue,” Crowley said in a statement. “This chronic pigeon nesting is a serious public health concern, and I am glad to see the DOT taking the appropriate steps.”

Under the new contract, the underpasses will be washed every three months with the first cleaning set for July, Crowley said. The contract was originally put out in February but was re-let by the state DOT because there was only one bidder.

Lake forms on LIE during holiday rush

From NBC New York:

Several vehicles got stuck in floodwaters at an underpass on the Long Island Expressway during the evening rush Friday, jamming traffic for miles just as holiday travelers were hitting the road.

The cars got caught in rising floodwaters near the Woodhaven Boulevard exit on the westbound side of the expressway at about 5 p.m., according to the FDNY. The emergency response caused delays on both sides of the L.I.E.

Firefighters rescued drivers who were stuck in the water, and tow trucks were brought in to get the vehicles out.

DEP officials are looking at poor drainage in the area as a possible cause of the severe flooding.

Duh.

The final moments of Civic Virtue in Queens

The statue was transported down Queens Blvd...

To the LIE...

And eventually over the Kosciuszko Bridge to Brooklyn.

Video available on George The Atheist's blog: While You Slept

And here he is in his new home:

When calling 911 gets you nowhere

From the Queens Gazette:

On Tuesday August 21 at about 3:15 in the afternoon a black Honda Civic driven by a resident of Elmhurst struck a Toyota Highlander driven by Marta Valasquez, a Flushing woman who was carrying her sister, Maria Mora, and her new 8-day old nephew, Juaquin, in the back seat.

The Highlander had minor visible damages but the Honda had major damages with the front end looking like an accordion.

What makes this apparently typical bump and dent collision of interest is the fact that Marta Valasquez, called 911 from her cell phone at 3:22pm, and an hour later when no police or EMS responded to the accident scene she dialed 911 again on her iPhone only to have the call and report to a 911 dispatcher ignored a second time as evidenced by no police or EMS sent to the accident scene.

More than two hours following the accident a Manhattan bound NYPD van from Manhattan North traffic detail was passing the accident site and pulled over to inquire if anyone was injured.

LIE is the "Heroin Highway"

From the Times Ledger:

District Attorney Richard Brown coined yet another unflattering nickname for a Queens thoroughfare Friday morning when he announced the results of a massive drug bust involving suspected dealers in the borough and well-to-do customers in Suffolk and Nassau counties.

Queens Boulevard’s is already known as the “Boulevard of Death,” but the DA’s office and the NYPD charged 12 individuals with selling hard drugs to hundreds of Long Islanders who used the “Heroin Highway,” or the Long Island Expressway, to get their fix in the borough.

“The main defendants are accused of operating as a tightly knit ring that catered almost exclusively to drug buyers from the eastern end of Long Island, virtually turning the Long Island Expressway into the ‘Heroin Highway,’” Brown said at his office in Kew Gardens.

The users in upper-middle-class towns like Kings Park and Smithtown would drive the hour into the Ridgewood area to buy heroin at nearly half of what they would pay in Long Island.

A sleeve of heroin containing 100 individual packets could run from $1,000 or $1,500 on the island, but the young suburbanites would meet in hotels, diners, fast food restaurants or even 99 cent stores in Queens to get the same product for $400 to $800.

The alleged ringleader, Jermel Broadhurst, 30, of 31-31 29th St. in Astoria was slapped with a slew of charges, including operating as a major trafficker. If convicted he could face up to life in prison.

Other Queens residents who were collared by the NYPD included Marcos Feliciano, 47, of 169 Beach 60th St. in Far Rockaway and Chelene Nelson, 24, of 31-31 29th St. in Astoria.

Getting to the bottom of Horace Harding

From Little Neck Patch:

Ready to set the record straight was Kathleen McGrath, an amateur Queens historian and self-proclaimed expert.

"Horace J. Harding was an affluent financier and director of the New York Municipal Railways System. But he was also an ardent supporter of Robert Moses’ 'great parkway' plan who used his influence to petition for a highway from Queens Boulevard out to Shelter Rock in Nassau County," McGrath said.

Though McGrath was quick to speculate that Harding had ulterior motives—aside from public interest—behind promoting the construction of the road which now bares his name.

"He was a big golfer and wanted to build a road that would provide better access to the Oakland Country Club where he was a member," she said.

Happy Monday!

BQE Tractor Trailer Overturns: MyFoxNY.com

MYFOXNY.COM - A tractor-trailer has overturned in Queens on the northbound BQE.

Debris litters the off-ramp to the Long Island Expressway.

There is no access to the LIE in either direction on the northbound BQE.

SkyFoxHD was over the scene where traffic was backed up for several miles.

Service road shoulder is not a rest stop

From the Times Ledger:

Maspeth residents are fed up with truckers who use their backyards as an overnight rest stop.

Instead of passing through the neighborhood or finding a legal place to park, resident Manny Caruana said tractor trailers pull onto the shoulder of the Long Island Expressway service road and spend the night.

“I’m right on the block in back of the service road,” he said. “They leave the trucks idling all night long.”

And the large engines produce noise and pollution that irritate homeowners who live just across the street.

“You have the fumes from the expressway — that’s bad enough — but we have to deal with the pollution from the idling trucks as well,” Caruana said. “It’s a major problem. The people who live there have to suffer.”

And drivers pay a price, too, according to another neighbor, Linda Daquaro.

“One time, there were three trucks resting there and they backed up all the way to the service ramp,” she said.

And when the end of the last truck hangs over into the road, cars have to swerve to get by, according to Daquaro.

The problem has been going on for roughly six months, she said.

“It’s not a rest stop,” she said.

Graffiti covers blank billboards

From the NY Post:

A city attempt to "beautify" highway scenery by cracking down on billboards has backfired, making dozens of the massive signs enticing blank canvasses for grotesque graffiti.

The results have left eyesores on the Brooklyn-Queens, the Long Island and Van Wyck expressways and 72 segments of other roadways and toll approaches in every borough. Many billboards now have incomprehensible scrawlings that read, "Xavior," "Ponyboy," and "Ramboy" -- especially along the BQE.

The wretched art show began in February, when the city won a federal lawsuit filed by advertising companies that both allowed the Department of Buildings to register every billboards near "arterial highways" and also to enforce a rule that no commercial advertising can occur within 250 feet of the roadways. One small firm, Mogul Media said the city's crackdown has been so severe that most of its billboards are blank with many ravaged by graffiti.

So now DOB needs to mandate that the billboards be removed. Problem solved.

Photo from Whatever Whatever

Build first, fix traffic problem later

From the Daily News:

The road to building a retail mecca in Queens is paved with backed-up one-way streets.

Rego Center opened its doors a few weeks ago, hoping to lure shoppers with Kohl's, T.J. Maxx and Century 21 department stores. And bargain hunters are coming.

But traffic in the already congested area, which includes the Long Island Expressway, Queens Blvd. and Junction Blvd., is also starting to jam up.

Costco, the bulk discount chain known for luring people who love to fill their cars with pallets of discounted merchandise, hasn't even opened up its basement store yet.

Local officials have been working with the city Transportation Department and developer Vornado Realty Trust to hash out traffic congestion issues.

DOT officials have reviewed plans and met with local leaders.

They are mulling a proposal to convert 62nd Drive to a one-way street and change the timing on traffic signals at Junction Blvd. and 62nd Drive.

And if you think it's bad now, wait until they build the 2 residential towers that go along with this project!

Horse Brook briefly returns!

Flood insurance and driving hazards notwithstanding, sometimes my parents dream of having a home on the waterfront. This month, their dream came true, with a sewer project tearing up two blocks of 62 Drive in Forest Hills.While it is a routine sewer project, this section of the street once followed the stream bed of Horse Brook, which was buried in time for the 1939 World's Fair by the future Long Island Expressway.

The idea of having a canal in the middle of our street makes me want to call up our distant relatives from Amsterdam for a visit.

Sergey Kadinsky
Keeping Horse Brook's memory alive!

Waste not, want not

I've been noticing a truck with a large trailer that says, "municipal waste" parked along the LIE service road a block or two west of Main Street for some time now. The stretch of road is 100% residential and the truck is parked behind people's backyards.

Took this photo last Sunday.

Went to Google Maps and found the same truck parked there back when the truck drove through to record the images, probably a few months ago.

Truck says Matawan, NJ.

Your tax dollars at work

From the Queens Tribune:

From the College Point Boulevard exit of the Long Island Expressway to the Northern Boulevard exit on the Grand Central, “Citi Field” now covers where “Shea Stadium” used to be.

And the MTA has changed the subway signs to "Mets/Willets Point".