30 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MAY 2021
LOCATIONS
MANHATTAN - BRONX - BROOKLYN - WHITE PLAINS
- BAY SHORE - GARDEN CITY - RIVERHEAD
www.NYCOMPLAW.com
Let’s Bury Blood Alley:
Time to Make Highways
Safer
ExEcutivE DirEctor-Marc HErbst
Long isLanD contractors’
association
This week is Work Zone
Awareness Week, and
there is no better zone to
focus on than “Blood Alley.”
No, that isn’t the name
of a cheesy horror movie,
it’s the tragically accurate
nickname given to the
Southern State Parkway.
What was once Robert Moses’
dream route for New
Yorkers to escape from the
city out to Long Island, has
long had the reputation as
one of the deadliest parkways
in the nation.
With more and more people
choosing to travel by
car instead of mass transit,
and with an optimistic
hope that this summer
will bring increased safe
outdoor activity and social
gatherings, it’s beyond
time to do something about
“Blood Alley” once and for
all. We must protect our
residents, workers, and out
of town travelers. It’s time
to support the Southern
State Parkway Safety Corridor
Act and start saving
lives.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman
Michaelle
Solages and Senator John
Brooks would effectively
transform the worst section
of the Southern State
Parkway into a “Highway
Safety Corridor.” The goal
is to reduce crashes, injuries
and fatalities through
increased education and
enforcement of safer driving
laws. To do this, the
corridor will be identified
with special signs to mark
the area and inform drivers
when they are entering
or exiting the safety zone.
There will be an increased
patrol of the area to ensure
safe driving. Finally, the
corridor could see the implementation
of automated
speed cameras to assist
our police in holding unsafe
drivers accountable.
Other pending legislation
supports cameras in construction
work zones to
help protect the safety of
workers.
The Southern State was
designed and built for another
era. Reconstruction
to meet today’s engineering
standards is certainly
necessary. However, the
greatest danger along
“Blood Alley” is typically
human behavior. I n addition
to advocating for constructing
highway infrastructure
improvements,
attention needs to address
the dangerous aggressive
driving and speeding.
The sole intent of these
measures is to save lives.
Workers on these roadways
put their lives at risk every
day, and for road travelers,
the perils of the parkway
are many. Far too many
have been needlessly lost to
this disastrous roadway. In
2012, a report stated that 37
people had died on the road
in the previous six years.
Just last year, a tragic accident
cost four people their
lives and injured two. No
more lives should be lost
due to unsafe highway conditions.
The parkway may
have been built for a 1930’s
America, but in 2021 we
have a unique opportunity
to increase safety for all
drivers on Long Island.
We have the way, now we
need the will. With these
proposed changes, we can
forever bury “Blood Alley”
for good.
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