Community News
24 JUNE 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
We were happy to have the opportunity
to go to LaGuardia Community College
for this discussion, from which we gained
valuable insights, and we look forward to
continuing the conversation with all community
stakeholders. We are evaluating
ways to expand Vision Zero treatments
along this corridor, including rapid response
safety enhancements to the intersection
of Thomson, Van Dam and Queens Blvd.
We are looking at corridor-wide safety and
streetscape enhancements adjacent to
LaGuardia Community College as well as
exploring capital improvements at intersections
with high crash histories, including
the intersection of Van Dam/Thomson/
Queens Boulevard and the intersection of
Thomson/Skillman Avenue," said the DOT.
According to the DOT, there have been
an estimated 13 deaths or serious injuries
between Thomson Ave. and Queens Blvd.
over the past five years, one of the driving
factors for the redesign. One of the
victims was 16-year-old Tenzin Drudak,
who along with four other people, was
struck by a minivan near the intersection
of Thomson Avenue and 30th Street, as
reported by QNS.
Drudak was a student who attended
Applied Communications High School
located inside one of the LAGCC buildings.
The other four surviving victims were
LaGuardia students.
Helen Ho, the director of external affairs
at LaGuardia, said that streets on Thomson
Avenue and others surrounding the school
have always been dangerous. She said that
student clubs came together following
Drudak's death, and put out a survey to
evaluate changes that needed to be made.
Anthony Tellez, a current student at
LaGuardia, expressed his concerns about
problems areas and lack of protected
bike lanes to the DOT. He said that he
heard that the DOT were originally going
to scrap plans for extended sidewalks,
but emphasized the importance of those
sidewalks for pedestrians.
"I've seen students trying to avoid congestion
on Thomson Avenue and getting
too close to the road," Tellez said.
He also mentioned the problem area
on Van Dam Street where the flashing
yellow light allows cars to make a right
turn while pedestrians simultaneously have
the walk light.
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/QNS
Nicole Garcia of the DOT at the May 29 LaGuardia
Community College presentation on Thomson Ave.
DOT unveils proposal
to redesign areas
of dangerous Long
Island City streets
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Hoping to boost pedestr
ian safety,
the Department of
Transportation (DOT)
unveiled on Tuesday
night its $17 million
capital project proposal for a long-awaited
redesign along Thomson Avenue in
Long Island City.
The DOT and Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer held a public presentation at La-
Guardia Community College on May 29,
where they discussed preliminary plans
for changes to key areas on Thomson
Avenue. Sidewalk widening and repair,
signal improvement and other redesign
plans for the three-way intersection of
Thomson Avenue, Queens Boulevard
and Van Dam Street were discussed
as part of the DOT plan.
DOT project manager Dan Wagner
gave an overview of their proposal for
top-priority short and long term changes.
The short term plans included adding pedestrian
connectivity through crosswalks,
pedestrian ramps and signals on Thomson
and Van Dam streets and several
improvements to the Thomson Avenue
corridor, which they estimate could be
implemented as early as fall 2018.
The longer term changes in the capital
project include upgrading traffic patterns
at Thomson and Van Dam and installing
raised and high-visibility crosswalks that
are ADA compliant at on the northeast
side of Thomson Avenue. Wagner estimated
that planning and development
for these changes would take place from
2019 to 2022 and construction would
begin at the end of 2022.
The DOT added that the plans for
redesign are in the preliminary stages,
but their hope is to expand Vision Zero
initiatives in the specified areas.
"The visuals from Tuesday night’s
meeting are concepts in development.
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