10what's new BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO A few weeks after the most recent accident off the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, in which an off-duty NYPD officer died, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has implemented a change to increase safety for drivers and pedestrians. The DOT and NYPD have announced that the single lane of the Queens-bound outer roadway of the Queensboro Bridge will be closed each day to vehicular traffic from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. The change was implemented on Monday, December 30. All traffic capacity on Queensbound inner and upper roadway lanes will not be affected. “This upgrade to the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge is just the latest step we’ve taken to keep the more than 180,000 daily drivers crossing safely on one of the city’s most iconic bridges,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. The daily closure and reopening of the outer roadway lane will be organized by NYPD traffic officers BRIDGE SAFETY DOT hopes lane closure will help avoid calamity who are already stationed at the bridge to manage the weekday reversal of the two upper roadway Queens-bound lanes. The closure comes after the DOT conducted a review of current safety measures, traffic volumes and travel speed following the death of 10-year NYPD veteran Elisa Toro, 36, on December 10. Toro was heading off the JANUARY 2014 I LIC COURIER I www.queenscourier.com bridge’s exit ramp around 1:50 a.m., when she struck a guardrail, then a cement barrier, said police. The car then flipped onto its passenger side, hitting a vacant storefront on Queens Plaza South at Crescent Street. Toro, a Bronx resident, was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured in the accident, said police. “I applaud the DOT for finally giving this dangerous stretch of road the attention it deserves,” said State Senator Michael Gianaris, who asked the DOT to improve traffic safety in the area and redesign the bridge’s exit ramp after a series of accidents in 2011. “Hopefully, the nighttime closure of the Queens-bound outer roadway will provide the time for a proper evaluation of the street design coming off the Queensboro Bridge exit ramp so we can eventually solve this problem once and for all.” According to the DOT, the outerroadway closure comes after traffic measures were installed near the Queens Plaza South exit ramp in 2011. These include three 20 mph messages, “shark teeth” markings on the road, 14 yellow and 12 white 36” X 8” aluminumbacked reflectors, four sets of rumble strips warning drivers they are approaching a reduced speed zone, and much more. Throughout the day, the agency plans to continue monitoring traffic volume, safety measures and driving conditions on the bridge. FILE PHOTOS Following numerous accidents, including one early this month and two cars crashing into storefronts near the Ed Koch-Queensborough Bridge within nine days of each other in 2011 (pictured), the Department of Transportation and NYPD announced the nighttime closure of the bridge’s single lane Queens-bound outer roadway.
LIC012014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above