Sept. 30, 2013 By Christian Murray
Elected officials held a press conference on Friday to draw the public’s attention to the number of pedestrian deaths/injuries in the Queens Plaza and Dutch Kills neighborhoods.
The event was held following the death of a pedestrian at Queens Plaza on Sept. 13 who was crossing from the south side of Queens Plaza to the north side. The woman’s death followed a July incident where a woman almost died crossing Queens Plaza as well.
“We have a growing epidemic where pedestrians are not safe and we are calling on the DOT [Department of Transportation] to make it safer,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.
Van Bramer said Queens Plaza is becoming one of the busiest neighborhoods in the city, as residential towers and hotels continue to be built—while corporations flock to the area. With this influx, “a greater number of people are living and working here—and are crossing the street,” Van Bramer said.
A common problem cited by business owners and residents is that the pedestrian countdown clock is too short and pedestrians don’t have enough time to cross the street. Officials want the pedestrian time clock to be extended.
Furthermore, the bike lanes are not clearly visible—putting pedestrians at risk of being hit by cyclists. Van Bramer said that there is a greater need for bike-lane signage.
Van Bramer said the Department of Transportation needs to take a closer look at the traffic issues in Queens Plaza. He said that the DOT is about to conduct a $6 million study of the traffic patterns in Long Island City– but fails to include the Queens Plaza and Dutch Kills sections of LIC in its review.
Van Bramer, State Sen. Mike Gianaris and the Long Island City Partnership are all urging the DOT to include these areas in its study.
“We want a city with a zero tolerance for pedestrian fatalities and a comprehensive study of this area will help,” Van Bramer said.
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13 Comments
exactly where can you start off? First thing you can do is start incorporating community into your key phrases.
A good instance is if you are selling essential oils, your keywords can be”essential oils,”
or”high quality essential oils.” Now you wish to introduce nearby,
which means you just turn your key words to some long tailed
key word using spot, such as”essential oils London” or”essential oils in New York” as
illustrations
Bicyclists are the most problem.
Few nights ago in my Jackson Heights neighborhood at 37th Av & 94th St when I was crossing from NE corner to NW corner when I had WALK SIGNAL, male cyclist ALMOST HIT ME and I screamed, “You suppose to STOP. YOU ALMOST HIT ME.” and he cursed at me.” and green sanitation worker witness too.
NYPD Traffic Agent need to ENFORCE BICYCLE LAW like how they’re extreme enforced in California.
Why be amazed that DOT has not addressed this. City agencies pretty much suck in this “greatest city in the world”. DOT, DOS and DOB (which is the worse, case in point the huge number of illegal apartments and illegal construction).
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/
I still am amazed at the hubris of DOT — who is so eager to make its bike program work — that they ignore pedestrian safety. DOT installed a two way bike lane between Skillman avenue and Jackson/Northern boulevard. The thing is, there is a BUS STATION at the corner where riders of the Q32 and 60 come off the bus and have no warnings that bikes are racing down the street between 20 -30 miles an hour. What an astonishing thing to put pedestrians in harms way. BTW, there’s also a subway exit on that corner too.
I’ve lived in NYC all my life without having gotten run over by a car. I don’t want to die beneath the wheels of a cyclist.
p.s. Agree that the Jackson Ave/Northern Blvd/Queens Blvd junction is a mess. It’s hard to believe that by now DOT hasn’t addressed it
No elevator for those who find it hard to climb.
Until recently SS office was at Crescent and the Plaza
Yes there is big bridge that leads to the subway and goes out the other side, but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking a small over pass at various points since that is a long stretch. It can be done, that is what the pay city engineers for.
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/
There is a walking bridge.
First off, it is unfortunate that 2 people were killed, but that is not an epidemic. Second, instead of having a press conference, why not just fix that problem, which is not a hard problem to fix. Put an action plan together and fix the damn problem.
Change the timing of the lights for a longer period of time, mark all the lanes very clearly and hire a traffic officer.
But if you really want to be smart, put a walking bridge over the lanes. It is not very expensive to do, it is simple and it eliminates the problem all together. Many cites have such walking bridges for problematic areas.
I don’t understand why everything in NYC becomes so complicated and like building the pyramids for easy problems. Everything is turned into a long drawn out situation.
Now that will be $100,000 for my consultant fee. Considering that the city will spend over five times that on feasibility studies, outside consultants and then when it is completed they will have done something wrong and have to start all over again, that is a bargain.
And by the time this gets dragged out as only bureaucrat can do and it is all finished, 100 people will have been killed and then you can call it an epidemic.
http://cleanupjamaicaqueens.wordpress.com/
I have a business in that area and often cross there to go to the bank or Post Office. It is very difficult to cross the whole street within the time limit. To me the bicycle lane is actually the most dangerous part when I cross from south to north. You are looking to see how much time you have left and then bicyclists come by very fast with no concern for pedestrians. I have learned to pay more attention there, but there should be some better situation for spots where pedestrians and bicyclists meet.
We usually cross under by using the tunnel.
If you go from N to S, there is an elevator up.
No elevator at Clock Tower end.
Bad for wheelchair users
And isn’t it time do finally do something about the intersection of Queens Blvd and Jackson/Northern Blvd? That’s a disaster waiting to happen. Cars, vans and trucks block the box trying to get on the bridge as the traffic the other way either get stopped completely or have to get around the trucks by swerving into oncoming traffic. There are policemen stationed there during rush hour, but at other times, it’s a free for all! No cameras, no block the box signs about big fines, just one big mess.
Wow!
Who would have thought that jamming so many new businesses and residences into that area would have made it unsafe? I mean it is only traffic from all over Long Island and Manhattan in a vicious race to get into four lanes on the lower level of a 104 year old bridge. Why would that make pedestrians vulnerable?
It never mentioned danger in any of those glossy real estate brochures I’ve been seeing around here for the last ten years. But, a few deaths are quite little to pay for all those great views and all the tax money the city is collecting, isn’t it? A couple of slow pokes a year, that’s all it will cost.
Van Bramer never commented on student killed by NYPD car on 40 Avenue in the area