Mayor Adams approves pedestrian path on Queensbridge for the few people that walk on it

 

 AMNY

City officials told amNewYork on Tuesday that cyclists and pedestrians will finally have their own lanes on the Ed Koch-Queensboro Bridge, ending a years-long controversy that had the two groups sharing a narrow path on the vehicle-heavy span.

Starting May 18, the north outer roadway of the Queensboro Bridge will be used exclusively for cyclists, and the south outer roadway, which is currently a vehicle lane, will become a dedicated space for pedestrians. 

The Queensboro Bridge, which connects Queens to Midtown, is the only city-owned bridge above the East River without separate paths for pedestrians and cyclists. Currently, the north outer roadway of the bridge is a shared space that crushes both pedestrians and cyclists together in a tight, 11-foot lane.

Advocates (aka lobbyists) have fought to open a separate pedestrian path, citing dangerous overcrowding that has led to conflicts among cyclists, pedestrians and micromobility users. Manhattan Community Board 6 even passed a resolution in October calling on the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to open the path without delay and “without regard to delays of construction,” which was being done on the bridge’s upper level last  year. 

However, once the south outer roadway opens for foot traffic, the bridge’s pedestrian and cycling space will double while eliminating space for vehicles. 

he new pathway was supposed to open sooner but Mayor Eric Adams, at first, delayed the celebration to ensure he and his team were fully briefed, and the new layout did not negatively impact traffic, a City Hall spokesperson explained. 

The double-decker Queensboro Bridge was built in 1909. Adams cited the span’s history by saying it has connected New Yorkers between Manhattan and Queens for 100 years while offering “breathtaking views” of the cityscape. 

“Now, our administration will make it even easier and safer to do so,” Mayor Adams said. “The more we make it safe to walk and bike, the more people utilize their bikes, and thanks to new cycling infrastructure in communities near the bridge, more and more pedestrians and cyclists are utilizing the Queensboro Bridge. Today’s announcement doubling the space available for pedestrians and cyclists builds off those upgrades and is a win-win for everyday New Yorkers.”

Northern Blvd rework coming

From NBC:

Safety changes are on the way for a street that has been dubbed the new boulevard of death -- the Northern Boulevard in Queens.

Metrocard machine placement is pretty dumb

From NBC:

New Yorkers are used to things on sidewalks --muni-meters, bicycle racks and the bygone phone stands -- but those are always close to the curb. So neighbors are scratching their heads over the SBS MetroCard machines right in the middle of the sidewalk near the intersection of Cross Bay Boulevard and Pitkin Avenue in Queens.

"Somebody must have been drinking and put it in the wrong spot," joked store decorator Eddie Cavuto.

Actually, the Department of Transportation says the kiosks were installed exactly where they were supposed to be.

"Okay, the worker didn't screw up, but the architect was drinking and he screwed up," cracked Cavuto.

The DOT says the kiosks are for a new bus lane and bus stop arriving there, and "our standard is to align the fare machines and other Special Bus Service amenities (like wayfinding totems) with the back of our shelter."

"These enhanced bus stop amenities needed to meet our minimum sidewalk clearance requirements," the DOT said.

Seriously stupid

So is there one DOT crew that installs these and another that comes and takes the plastic off? Or did someone just do a half-assed job, which is what I suspect?

Vision Zero not working in 112th Pct

From DNA Info:

The number of pedestrians hit by vehicles in Forest Hills and Rego Park jumped by 64 percent this year, according to the 112th Precinct which recently launched a safe driving campaign.

In January, 23 people were hit in the neighborhood, compared to just 14 during the same month in 2016, according to the precinct's commanding officer Captain Robert Ramos.

In many instances, pedestrians were hit by cars making turns, police officials said.

Ramp removal planned on Clearview

From the Queens Chronicle:

The New York State Department of Transportation plans on closing the two pedestrian ramps under the Long Island Rail Road trestles on the east and west sides of the Clearview Expressway in Bayside.

“The ramps are underutilized and in poor condition,” the agency said in an advisory. “A recent inspection of these ramps has indicated that they have exceeded their service life.” They will be closed on Friday and removed at an undetermined date.

According to Auburndale Improvement Association First Vice President Henry Euler, who heard about the plan at a Community Board 11 meeting, the agency should have reached out to community members before making any decision.

“They said, ‘Oh, people could walk to Corporal Kennedy Street or Francis Lewis Boulevard,’” he told the Chronicle. “Well, that’s kind of a far trek to take to get from one side of the tracks to the other. In our community they should have things available for people for their convenience.”

Kew Gardens Interchange work complete

From DNA Info:

Driving around Queens may now be a bit less frustrating, after a major phase of the lengthy Kew Gardens Interchange Project was completed six years after it started, officials said.

The state Department of Transportation just finalized the $159 million reconstruction of a large portion of the Van Wyck Expressway in Kew Gardens and Briarwood, which seeks to reduce congestion and ease traffic flow in the area, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

That phase of the Kew Gardens Interchange project included:

► reconstructing and widening the Van Wyck Expressway between 82nd and Hillside avenues;

► reconstructing the exit ramp from the northbound Van Wyck Expressway to westbound Queens Boulevard;

► constructing several bridges over the Van Wyck Expressway, including the Queens Boulevard Bridge over Main Street;

► building an extra lane on the Van Wyck Expressway between the Grand Central Parkway and Queens Boulevard;

► constructing a dedicated exit lane on the southbound Van Wyck Expressway to Hillside Avenue.

Residents will still, however, have to wait a bit longer for a new elevator at the Briarwood subway station, which was built as part of the project, as well as for three pedestrian plazas and landscaping along Queens Boulevard planned for the Kew Gardens and Briarwood area after it was overtaken by the construction project for many years.

More pedestrians and cyclists dead this year

From the Daily News:

Deaths of the most vulnerable users of city streets — pedestrians and cyclists — are outpacing fatalities from 2015, even as a drop in the number of motorists killed have held the death toll flat, according to the latest figures.

There were 202 fatalities this year through Nov. 20 — exactly as many people who died in 2015 over the same period.

But crash stats show that more pedestrians and cyclists are being killed than last year at this time under Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero Action Plan meant to end traffic deaths and injuries.

There were 124 pedestrians and 17 cyclists killed, compared to the 115 pedestrians and 14 cyclists cut down over the same period in 2015, according to city Department of Transportation figures.

At the same time, fewer people in cars and on motorcycles died this year — 61, compared to 73 over the same period last year.

Vision Zero is a flop

From the Daily News:

Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to cut pedestrian deaths has veered dramatically off course, advocates and families of crash victims charged Thursday at City Hall.

Safe streets supporters rallied after an unlicensed van driver last week fatally struck an 8-month-old baby in his stroller in Queens. And contrary to the goal to cut traffic deaths eventually to zero, deaths so far this year are up 5%, to 195.

De Blasio spokesman Austin Finan defended the city’s efforts.

"No death on our city's streets is acceptable. The DOT is working diligently to complete at least 90 Safety Improvement Projects in 2016 — the most completed in a single calendar year — including expanded pedestrian space, protected bike lanes, corridor improvements and intersection treatments,” he said.

Long overdue legislation

From AMNY:

The City Council passed a bill from Public Advocate Letitia James on Wednesday that offers better legal protection for pedestrians that are struck by drivers in the crosswalk.

The bill closes a loophole in city law and give walkers the right of way in a crosswalk when a countdown clock is in progress or when a red hand signal is flashing.

The previous law, which was established before the existence of countdown timers, only granted pedestrians the right to cross the street during a walk symbol.

“This brings our law as it relates to our city into the 21st century,” said James, who hosted a rally at City Hall Wednesday morning before the legislation passed. “It corrects a dangerous loophole that basically offered no legal liability for drivers. We wanted to provide pedestrians some protections under the law.”

Advocates say that the loophole had made it difficult for prosecutors to enforce the city’s “Right of Way” law, a Vision Zero measure passed two years ago that provides a criminal misdemeanor to any driver who strikes a pedestrian or cyclist who has the right of way to cross a street.

MTA bus device may improve pedestrian safety

From NBC:

Surveillance video of several recent MTA bus crashes seem to highlight the danger of blind spots for the bus drivers. But a technology called Rosco Vision's Mobileye Shield Plus, which detects the shape and movement of a person, could be a solution. The MTA is testing the system, which may soon to expand to 100 buses. Andrew Siff got an exclusive look at how it works.

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.

Koreatown Plaza becomes controversial

From the Times Ledger:

State. Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and community leaders say they are against a pedestrian plaza proposed for the street across from the McGoldrick Library in Flushing.

In 2014, the Korean American Association of Queens applied to the city Department of Transportation to permanently close the street in front of the library on Roosevelt Avenue between 155th Street and Northern Boulevard and make a pedestrian plaza with tables and chairs.

The plaza would also be on Leonard Square, which honors Corporal William A. Leonard, a Flushing resident and World War I veteran.

Avella attended the trial street closure Friday, which he said he learned of only a day earlier and found that the area had too little pedestrian traffic to warrant a plaza and limited room to reroute traffic to avoid congestion.

“I only found out about this on Thursday and my first reaction was, ‘What idiot came up with this?’” he said during a news conference Monday afternoon.

He places the blame on the DOT and elected officials who support the proposal, saying they should know better than to support a plaza in an area with a lot of traffic and without sufficient community input.

He said state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing), one of the supporters of the proposal, should be “ashamed of herself.”

“I fault the city and I fault any elected official who tried to sneak this through,” he said.

Mike Favilla, Stavisky’s chief of staff, said the proposal does not concern Avella.

“Tony Avella has made more crazy allegations than Donald Trump and now he’s at it again,” Favilla said in a statement. “Considering that Tony only received 52 percent of the vote in his last primary, perhaps he should spend more time in his own district rather than looking for fights elsewhere.”

At the trial street closure last week, Stavisky and City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) said they were unaware of opposition to the proposal but that they would meet with community leaders to discuss it.

City Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) supports the proposal as well.

It's more than a pedestrian plaza with tables and chairs. They also want vendor stalls. Because there's nowhere else in Flushing to buy cheap junk right now.

Will new technology help avoid collisions?

From the Queens Courier:

Councilman Rory Lancman and Public Advocate Letitia James called for the implementation of collision avoidance technology in city vehicles and showcased the technology in a retrofitted MTA bus.

Collision avoidance technology acts as a bionic eye to alert drivers of impending danger including other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. Lancman and James indicated that the technology has demonstrated an ability to increase safety by reducing overall collisions by 60 percent.

Moreover, the elected officials called for local companies such as Rosco Vision Systems of Jamaica, which is headquartered in Lancman’s area in District 24, to help develop the technology for citywide use.

The legislation calls on the city to implement the technology in the vehicles that are most often involved in pedestrian accidents, such as Department of Sanitation collection trucks and NYPD police vehicles.

Car dealerships should park legally

From Sunnyside Post:

Car dealerships are displaying their vehicles on the sidewalk along Northern Blvd and street safety advocates are sick of it.

Angela Stach of Transportation Alternatives and Cristina Furlong of Make Queens Safer, two pedestrian safety advocacy groups, have spoken out against these dealerships, stating that this practice creates a danger for pedestrians.

Both stated that these dealerships force pedestrians to walk around the vehicles, often into the street.

“It puts pedestrians in the very dangerous position of having to walk into oncoming traffic in the street,” Stach said. “Especially on Northern Boulevard, which is one of the most dangerous streets in Queens.”

There have already been a number of pedestrians hit and in some cases killed by vehicles along Northern Blvd, including an accident that left five people injured after a Mazda sedan struck them at a bus stop on Northern Boulevard and 48th Street, in February, 2014. Noshat Nahian, an 8-year-old heading to school, was struck and killed in December of 2013, while crossing the intersection at Northern Boulevard and 61st Street.

While the practice of dealerships parking on sidewalks had nothing to do with these incidents, “these dealerships along Northern Boulevard put more people at risk,” Furlong said. “It is really insulting to see nothing get done.”

Furlong said that there are over 20 dealerships and garages along Northern Boulevard from 40th Street down into the 60’s.

Funny how people have been compaining about this for years, but it's only when Transportation Alternatives gets involved that it's considered newsworthy.

Lancman wants clarification of safety law

From the Daily News:

Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) says he plans to introduce an amendment to the mayor's Right of Way law tomorrow that would further define when a driver could be handcuffed for hitting a pedestrian or cyclist.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's law, which went into effect last August as part of his Vision Zero initiative, made it a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail for a driver to injure or kill a pedestrian or cyclist who had the right of way.

Lancman's amendment would require cops to take into consideration "visibility, illumination, weather conditions, roadway conditions, roadway design, faulty vehicular equipment or design," and whether the pedestrian was also following the rules.

Lancman says he's pushing the bill because the NYPD would not clarify for him what constitutes a driver failing "to exercise due care" under the law.

"We cannot let people get arrested and potentially sent to jail without a clear understanding of what type of conduct is criminal and not criminal," he said.

Left turns can be killers

From NBC 4:

New numbers reveal more people are hit and killed by drivers making left turns in New York than any other state. In New York City, left turns are more likely to hurt or kill a pedestrian than right ones.

NBC 4 New York partner WNYC Radio, which crunched the numbers, found reckless or inattentive drivers may not solely be to blame for left hand-turn accidents.

Crash standards have expanded the size of what are called vehicle A-pillars -- the pieces of a car that hold the windshield in place. The larger pillars are routinely used to protect people in rollover situations, but experts say they can also reduce visibility.

No one can explain why expensive bridge went bad

From the NY Times:

It was supposed to be the coolest little bridge in New York City. Designed by the winner of a MacArthur “genius” grant and built at a cost of $4.1 million, it zigzagged just 400 feet down from Brooklyn Heights to the waterfront, bouncing slightly underfoot and adding a touch of rustic adventure to the bustling Brooklyn Bridge Park.

But the pedestrian bridge, which opened in March 2013, soon bounced a little too much. Then it started to move from side to side. Then, last August, it was closed abruptly — and temporarily — park officials said. By October, the target reopening date was amended to spring.

Now, with spring well underway, officials for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, which operates the park, still do not have an exact date for when the Squibb Park Bridge, as it is formally known, will reopen, though they say it will be sometime in late spring.

Nor could they specify what went wrong. Belinda Cape, a spokeswoman for the park corporation, attributed the problem broadly to a “misalignment” issue. “Engineers have been working to correct the issue and repair the bridge,” she said. “They’re pulling it back into alignment and testing it, section by section.”

In the absence of an explanation, park officials and local residents have speculated that construction at two nearby sites may have compromised the bridge, or maybe it was the tendency of teenagers to jump en masse to accentuate the bounce.

“In an environment like this, if people find out something is moving, they are going to move it to the max, especially younger kids,” said Nick Ivanoff, president of Ammann & Whitney, a leading bridge engineering firm that was not involved in the project.

Those answers have not been enough for elected officials like State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, a Democrat whose district includes Brooklyn Bridge Park. He has called on the park corporation to provide a full accounting of the bridge’s defects and to recoup the cost of repairs, estimated at about $700,000.

Park officials say they planned to do both, although they declined to say whether they would also sue the engineer who designed the bridge.

LIRR pedestrian overpass is a dump

From the Queens Courier:

Local elected officials and community leaders gathered earlier in December to tour the pedestrian bridge that connects two separate sections of 55th Avenue, one of which turns onto 85th Street and the other that becomes a dead end near Haspel Street.

The group toured the overpass with Long Island Rail Road and Sanitation officials to discuss the conditions and demand immediate improvements be made at the site.

According to Christian Cassagnol, district manager of Community Board 4, the problems most residents have voiced concerns about include graffiti, lack of sufficient lighting, safety overnight and dirty conditions.

Residents and members of CB 4’s environmental committee regularly gather to clean up the site, Cassagnol said, but there is only so much that could be done on a local level. He decided to contact Councilman Daniel Dromm’s office in the hopes of finding a better solution.

Rosemarie Daraio, president of the nonprofit Communities of Maspeth & Elmhurst Together Inc. (COMET) Civic Association, added that some other issues include illegal dumping, weeds overtaking the site, and deteriorating and uneven steps.

Days before the Dec. 15 walk-through, the city’s Department of Sanitation showed up and did a cleanup.

“This site must be cleaned and made safe for pedestrians,” said Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, who was part of the group that toured the overpass. “There is no substitute for an on-site visit to see conditions firsthand.”

According to Stavisky, she and Dromm will continue to monitor the issue.

Fewest pedestrian deaths on record

From the Daily News:

The number of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents this year — 131 as of Sunday — is the lowest on record, de Blasio administration officials told the Daily News on Monday.

With just a day left before the ball drops in Times Square, the city almost certainly will end 2014 with the fewest pedestrian deaths since 1910, when officials began to keep reliable statistics, a mayoral spokesman said. Back then, streetcars and horse-drawn wagons also were on the road.

The previous all-time low was in 2007, when there were 142 pedestrian fatalities, officials said.

Of course, as Joe Moretti points out, there still is pretty lax truck enforcement. They could have had the number even lower if they focused on that as well.