Some say TN road diet talks are façade
Department of Transportation moves forward with work on East Tremont
BY JASON COHEN
For several months,
Throggs Neck residents have
spoken out against the planned
road diet and bike lanes for
East Tremont Avenue.
Yet in September, the Department
of Transportation
(DOT) began to put bike lanes
and road diets on East Tremont
Avenue from the Cross
Bronx Expressway to Harding
Avenue and on Harding Avenue
from Emerson Avenue to
Pennyfi eld Avenue.
The agency’s rationale is
that these measures would reduce
traffi c and make streets
safer. The proposals come
after a man was injured in
2019 at East Tremont and Milton
Avenues and a woman
was killed in 2018 on East
Tremont Avenue.
However, residents and
elected offi cials said were expecting
DOT to hold another
meeting last month to discuss
the planned work, so people
were caught off guard when
they saw work had begun without
community consultation.
Hoping to delay further
work on the project, Community
Board 10 and Councilman
Mark Gjonaj held town halls
over the past few weeks where
many people again expressed
dissension with the project.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,8 OCTOBER 23-29, 2020 BTR
“From our perspective the
objective was to get DOT to
hear fi rsthand from people
that would be impacted by the
project and have that refl ected
in how the project moves forward,”
said Reggie Johnson,
Gjonaj’s chief of staff. “They
were our town halls and they
were meant to make sure the
DOT understood the project’s
impact. So we and the
community attended them to
make a difference. But with
that said, the DOT may have
attended the town hall just
for show. That they’ll have to
answer to.”
On Wednesday Oct. 14, the
Bronx Times spoke with DOT
who said the majority of the
work on Tremont is fi nished
and the work on Harding was
paused during the last few
days due to weather.
The DOT participated
in the town hall to listen to
the concerns about lighting
and double parking but residents
said it seemed nothing
had changed when it came to
the project.
“The meeting was productive,
with several community
members and members
of the board speaking
in favor of this project that
aims to decrease speeding
and improve safety for all
street users in this area,” the
spokesman said.
DOT Borough Commissioner
Nivardo Lopez expressed
regret that the agency
did not do better outreach to
the community.
Over the summer Throggs
Neck Business Improvement
Director Bobby Jaen tore into
the plan and he expressed
similar sentiments during
the community meetings
with DOT.
He said that he was worried
about trucks double parking
while unloading food, adding
that there must be better
lighting or else people will get
hurt and stressed the street is
too narrow for bike lanes.
“The people and the merchants
should have been
talked to fi rst before the road
diets are put in,” he said. “I
understand the mea culpas
and sorrys, but it’s still a problem.
This was done completely
and utterly wrong. This is going
to cost lives. You know it,
I know it and everyone at this
meeting knows it.”
A screenshot from the meeting
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