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Nov. 12 - Nov. 18, 2021
City unveils new busways in southeast Queens
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Last month, the city unveiled
new busways on Jamaica
and Archer avenues, touted
as “the biggest bus improvement
project in New York City
history.”
At an Oct. 29 press conference,
city agencies, including
the Department of Transportation
and NYC Transit, gathered
with transit advocates
and the community to cut the
ribbon on the new busways.
The one-year pilot projects are
part of Mayor de Blasio’s Better
Buses plan to install new
and improved bus lanes across
the city in 2021.
According to the city, the
new Jamaica busways will
help to speed commutes for approximately
250,000 riders a
day — more than any busway
to date — and also improve
truck and delivery access for
local businesses.
“This is a historic milestone
in our effort to improve
bus service for all New Yorkers,”
said DOT Commissioner
Hank Gutman. “In terms of
the number of lives improved
each day, this is the biggest
change we have made since the
program began and the most
dramatic transportation development
in southeast Queens
since the subway was extended
in 1988.”
Gutman said that Jamaica
and Archer avenues were chosen
due to their roles as hubs
of transit, education, business
and culture.
“We’re doing it here because
New York City Transit Interim President Craig Cipriano at the ribbon-cutting for the Jamaica
busways. Photo by Jenna Bagcal
this is where it has the
maximum impact,” he said.
The Archer Avenue pilot
is a physically protected eastbound
busway that covers
150th Street to 160th Street.
The lanes are reserved for
MTA and NICE buses only,
which have access to these
lanes 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.
Commuter vans have
marked pickup and dropoff
zones on 153rd and 160th
streets between Archer and
Jamaica avenues.
The Jamaica Avenue pilot
begins at Sutphin Boulevard
and extends to 168th Street in
both directions and gives access
to buses and commercial
trucks 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.
Passenger vehicles are
prohibited from driving along
Jamaica Avenue from Sutphin
Avenue to 168th Street and can
instead use Hillside Avenue
and Liberty Avenue. Vehicles
can turn onto Jamaica Avenue
from side streets only to travel
short distances and they must
generally make the next right
turn to exit the avenue.
DOT instated new curbside
regulations to allow parking,
truck loading and pedestrian
space where old bus lanes were
removed.
“The completion of these
new busways is a major boost
for transit as we look to provide
the world-class service
our customers demand and
deserve,” said New York City
Transit Interim President
Craig Cipriano. “Jamaica and
Archer avenues are major arteries
right here in southeast
Queens and dedicated bus
lanes with help thousands of
commuters across 26 routes
get where they need to go faster
and more efficiently.”
Cipriano cited the success
of similar bus lanes and automated
camera enforcement
in areas like 14th Street in
Manhattan, Main Street in
Flushing and 181st Street in
Washington Heights.
“If you’re not a bus, stay out
of our bus lanes,” he said.
Prior to beginning the pilot
projects, DOT held an “extensive
community outreach
process,” which involved open
houses to gather feedback
on the projects and nearly 20
events with community advisory
boards and other stakeholders
in 2020 and 2021.
But not everyone in the
community was thrilled about
this major change in Jamaica.
Resident Bruce Parker works
for a city agency and is often inconvenienced
when he drives
around for his job. Instead of
using Jamaica Avenue, Parker
said he is often rerouted and
forced to drive for longer.
“I understand the bus lanes
are important but to take the
whole street and not have it for
commuters is also an inconvenience
for everybody, which I
feel is not fair,” Parker said.
Despite the DOT’s outreach
process, Parker felt that the
community needed more engagement
prior to completing
the project.
“I feel like a better solution is
just trying to figure out how best
you can survey the community
first before you do a project like
this because I feel like projects
like this are done without coming
to the community to see what
the community really needs.”
Vol. 9 No. 46 40 total pages
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