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SAFETY PLAN GETS NOD CURES To RR: Put A Lid On It! Derailment Sparks Calls For Container Car Caps CURES. “This is a systematic problem,” she said of the global problems of freight transport through neighborhood backyards in many parts of central Queens. She also finds the terminology inaccurate, referring to this material as “garbage,” not C+D debris, which is the preferred railroad nomenclature. To really address this problem, Parisen believes NYAR, “freight cars need to be containerized” to avoid health risks and contamination of soil and drinking water. Though freight cars are equipped with nets to prevent material from flying off, Despite the changes, many dangers still loom. The three roadways form skewed intersections, making crosswalk distances very lengthy and some low volume, hard angled turns are extremely hazardous, especially for large trucks, it was explained. According to a DOT report, between 2008 and 2012, the intersection has seen 29 total injuries, two fatalities, and 15 pedestrian injuries. Current proposed changes would include installing five extended painted curbs, a new crosswalk acrossMyrtleAvenue on the east side of Wyckoff Avenue and highly visible crosswalks. Also, the low volume turns would be banned minimizing conflicts between vehicles, trucks and pedestrians. Arcuri sought another meeting with DOT engineers in an effort to review the plan for a third time and impose any additional changes necessary. However, Hall, who needed a recommendation from the committees, was ready to move on with the process to keep up with the mayor’s Vision Zero program. “I think we’ve reviewed in good faith genuine plans that our engineers feel confident that help resolve some of the situations we’ve seen out there,” said Hall. “We’d like to move on this.” During the committees’ deliberation, Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano called out to one attendee, Ken Bandes, for an opinion; Bandes’ daughter was struck and killed in the intersection in 2013. Bandes expressed some frustration that improvements had been suggested and never implemented and then someone was killed in 2009 and then later his daughter. He is eager to see action. “From my point of view, I would just like to see something done,” said Bandes. “I just count every day as another day somebody could be killed.” Bandes stated he was recently at the intersection for an interview with a local news station.As they watched Myrtle andWyckoff avenues, Bandes said people were “literally fleeing cars and buses.” “There’s another one waiting to happen,” he said. Arcuri expressed concern that this was the end of the project, adding that no matter the night’s vote, more needed to be done in the future. He wanted to make sure this was not the end of the process. One of Hall’s planners reminded TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014 • 6 by Matthew Van Deventer The busy Ridgewood intersection of Myrtle Avenue, Wyckoff Avenue and Palmetto Street will soon get a make over after the Community Board 5 Transportation and Public Transit Committees unanimously recommended a city Transportation Department (DOT) proposal during its meeting last Tuesday, May 20, at the board’s Glendale office. The deadly intersection is complicated by three major roadways meeting under train tracks and houses a major subway stop for the L and M trains, four Brooklyn bus routes (B13, B26, B52, B54,) and two Queens routes (Q55, Q58), with a layover on Wyckoff Avenue. Local Brooklyn and through Queens truck routes use Myrtle Avenue, resulting in heavy truck traffic coexisting with heavy pedestrian traffic, according to the presentation given to the board by the DOT Queens Borough Commissioner’s office on May 14. The committees have advocated for more safety at this intersection for nearly five years, explained Board 5 Chairperson Vincent Arcuri, who cochairs its Transportation Committee. Some changes have already been made, including retiming the lights and increasing visibility under the tracks, according to DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Dalila Hall. -SEE CB 5 TRANSIT ON PG. 30- Improvements At R’wood Corner by Noah Zuss Following the derailment of a freight car carrying construction and demolition debris in Jamaica on May 14, Civics United for Railroad Environmental Solutions (CURES) has renewed its calls for lids on all container cars to spillage and minimize the release of foul odors and toxins into the air. New York & Atlantic Railway (NYAR) is the company tasked with transporting freight cars through tracks leased from the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) traveling through central Queens neighborhoods. The train carrying the overturned freight car was traveling eight miles an hour when it derailed in the vicinity of a switch. CURES Co-Chair Mary Parisen, a Glendale resident, lives about 100 feet from these tracks and said she deals with vibrations that resemble “a seismic earthquake” when freight trains rumble by her home. “It shakes my house,” Parisen said. “The structure of my home has been affected.” The derailment of a car carrying construction and demolition debris (C+D) is just the latest concern for -SEE LIDS ON PG. 34- Glendale Pupils Reeled In Some Fun The fifth and sixth-graders at St. Pancras School in Glendale went fishing with the New York City Park Rangers at Kissena Pond in Flushing, on Tuesday, May 20. The students received a lesson in fish anatomy, aquatic ecology, and proper angling techniques. The students learned to do it safely and legally. 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