16 The QUEE NS Courier • august 7, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Rendering courtesy Dean/Wolf Architects Construction on the $19 million EMS station in Hillcrest has begun. Construction begins for new $19M EMS station at Queens Hospital Center BY LIAM LA GUERRE the largest EMS station in Queens at 13,000 square feet. lguerre@queenscourier.com/@liamlaguerre Dean/Wolf Architects is working on the project, which will house training facilities, blood-borne pathogen Work on the new Hillcrest FDNY Emergency Medical decontamination areas, and parking spaces. Services (EMS) station has ignited. The new building will be two stories, made of glass, Construction recently began on the new station, metal and concrete. It will house five ambulances, staff which will be located on the Queens Hospital Center offices and equipment storage and lockers for about 100 campus on Goethals Avenue, after the site’s permits EMS personnel. were approved. The station will serve neighborhoods as far north as The center is expected to cost $19 million and will be Whitestone and as far south as Howard Beach. MORE SLOW ZONES COMING TO QUEENS BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com @aaltamirano28 More areas of Queens are slowing down. The city’s Department of Transportation announced August 1 the second phase of Arterial Slow Zones, which reduce speed limits to 25 mph, in 14 new locations throughout the city. New signs will be put up indicating the change. Among the 14 locations are two Queens corridors. The first will run 5.8 miles on Roosevelt Avenue from Queens Boulevard to 154th Street and the approximate start month is set for September. In December, the DOT is expected to begin implementing a 5.6-mile slow zone on Metropolitan Avenue from Onderdonk Avenue to 132nd Street. “Slow Zones are a critical and widely endorsed element of Vision Zero,” DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said. “We are glad to work closely with local communities in bringing these life saving measures to corridors across the city. These 14 additional zones meet another goal we set in February.” In May the DOT announced that Northern and Queens boulevards would become part of 25 planned Arterial Slow Zones implemented throughout the five boroughs. The first phase of a Slow Zone for Northern Boulevard runs 4.2 miles long from 40th Road to 114th Street. DOT also implemented a Slow Zone on Queens Boulevard stretching 7.4 miles from Jackson Avenue to Hillside Avenue. For more information on Arterial Slow Zones, please visit www.nyc.gov/ dot or www.nyc.gov/visionzero. THE COURIER/ Photo by Angy Altamirano The Department of Transportation announced that two more Queens corridors have joined Northern and Queens Boulevard on the list of arterial slow zones. In a ground-breaking ceremony for the project in December, Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano praised the new center, citing the growing need for medical services. “As call volume for medical emergencies has continued to grow, including a record-setting 1.3 million calls in 2012, the department has worked to increase the number of our EMS stations in an effort to further lower response times and position resources where they are most needed,” Cassano said.
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