4 The QUENS Courier • FEBRUARY 19, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com City focuses on reducing pedestrian deaths in Queens BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ [email protected] @EricJankiewicz City officials are looking into Jamaica, among other areas, to launch the first borough-wide traffic safety crackdown in the city as part of a long-range effort to reduce the number of deaths from auto accidents, police and transportation officials announced at a press conference in Jamaica on Feb. 17. “We launched Vision Zero in Queens a year ago, and today we proudly return to the world’s borough to release the first of our five groundbreaking Borough Pedestrian Safety Action Plans,” said transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “These Borough Plans combine cutting edge data analysis and community input from thousands of New Yorkers in all five boroughs. They will help the city target its engineering, enforcement and education efforts to make New York’s streets the safest in the world.” The announcement was made at P.S. 82, near the intersection of Metropolitan and Hillside avenues, a “priority corridor” slated for a major redesign because of historically high rates of deaths and serious injuries. On average, 43 people in Queens have died every year since 2011, according to data compiled by the city, and most of these deaths occurred in Flushing, Elmhurst and Jamaica, where there is a high concentration of car and foot traffic. By focusing on intersections and areas in Queens with the highest number of pedestrian deaths, the Department of Transportation identified 72 intersections and 47 corridors that pose the most danger to people and where the highest percentage of car-related deaths have taken place. Trottenberg and other officials outlined a series of initiatives that will take two years and, the city hopes, will bring down the average number of pedestrian deaths and injuries in Queens. The initiative is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero. The city, among other things, wants to increase pedestrian crossing times at crosswalks for areas like Northern Boulevard between Queens Plaza and 114th Street; change traffic signals so that they deter people from driving fast on large boulevards that Queens is known for; increase the amount of light in dark underpasses; and expand the bicycle lanes and network. Cops will also take a tougher line on speeding hot spots identified by the city. “We’re going to concentrate our enforcement efforts in these areas,” said NYPD Transportation Chief Thomas Chan. “We’re going to do our best to reduce the number of traffic fatalities.” These plans are the results of years of preparation by the transportation department and community input received during workshops over the last year. The press conference was also attended by local politicians whose areas included some of the dangerous areas. “I appreciate all the effort that the administration is putting into safety,” Councilman Rory Lancman said. “This is going to make a real difference with people I represent.” THE COURIER/File Photo Morning rush hour in Flushing on Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue can not only be annoying, but it could also be deadly. Queens is the borough with the most potholes BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ [email protected] @EricJankiewicz Queens isn’t just the “World’s Borough.” It’s also the borough with the city’s most tire-wrecking potholes — a total of 20,000 that have been filled by city crews so far in 2015. “Queens has the largest share of roads out of the five boroughs so that only makes sense,” Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said of the pothole problem. With severe winter weather, roads take a beating and inevitably develop potholes. And so the city’s transportation department is fighting a perpetual battle with limited resources. On a recent Tuesday there were 12 crews out citywide fixing pock-marked streets. Last year, the city filled almost 500,000 potholes and 131,000 of those fixed were in Queens. And this year 20,000 potholes were filled in Queens, almost half of all citywide jobs to date. With over 2,000 miles of roadway, the most of any borough, the number of potholes in the road is higher than in other boroughs, a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation pointed out. The transportation department had filled a similar number of potholes this time last year. At the time, it was the “most potholes ever filled at this point of the year in the history of New York City,” according to a then newly-elected Mayor de Blasio, who visited Maspeth last year to fill some holes. Pothole season typically starts by February and dies down by April, though the timeline is dependent on weather, experts say. And while most potholes are just a nuisance, they can sometimes be a threat in neighborhoods like Hamilton Beach, where the neighborhood’s main road resembles the surface of the moon, causing traffic jams and dangerous conditions for pedestrians. THE COURIER/Photo by Eric Jankiewicz Potholes riddle the pavement along 214th Place between 36th and 38th avenues in Bayside. Repair crews have patched 20,000 potholes across the borough this year, with many more, like these, yet to be fixed. LAGUARDIA NOW $2 OFF Expires 04/30/15 With coupon only $2 OFF Any Ride To Manhattan/Queens Minimum $20 Not to be combined with any other offer NEWARK NOW $5 OFF Expires 04/30/15 With coupon only KENNEDY NOW $3 OFF Expires 04/30/15 With coupon only 23-03 Astoria Boulevard • Astoria • 718.204.5861 “LI# B01506”
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