8 SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Roadwork begins in Community District 5
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Extensive milling and resurfacing
in Community District
5 — encompassing Ridgewood,
Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale
— started this week on Monday,
Sept. 20.
Gary Giordano, the board’s district
manager, reported that the
following roads are scheduled for
improvements:
• 75th Avenue/Forest Avenue,
from Decatur Street to 64th Street;
• Central Avenue from Cypress
Hills Street to Myrtle Avenue, and
from 69th Place to 73rd Place;
• Otto Road, from 69th Place to
Cypress Hills Street;
• 70th Avenue, from 70th Street to
Otto Road;
• Indiana Avenue, from the Dead
End to 72nd Street;
• 72nd Street, from Central Avenue
to Indiana Avenue;
• 71st Place from Central Avenue
to Cooper Avenue;
• 72nd Place, from Edsall Avenue
to Cooper Avenue;
• 64th Street from Cypress Hills
Street to Myrtle Avenue;
• 64th Place, from Otto Road to
Central Avenue;
• 65th St., from Central Avenue to
Myrtle Avenue;
• 65th Place, from Myrtle Avenue
to 70th Avenue;
• 66th Street, from Otto Road to
Myrtle Avenue;
• 66th Place from Myrtle Avenue
to Otto Road;
• 67th Street from Otto Road to
70th Avenue.;
• 67th Place, from Myrtle Avenue
Photo via Getty Images
to Otto Road;
• 70th Street from 70th Avenue to
Myrtle Avenue;
• 74th Avenue from 88th Street to
Woodhaven Boulevard;
• Woodhaven Boulevard Service
Road at Union Turnpike;
• Penelope Avenue, from Woodhaven
Boulevard to 74th Street and
from 71st Street to 69th Place;
• 77th Street, from Juniper
Boulevard South to 66th Road;
• 77th Place, from Juniper Boulevard
South to 66th Road;
• 75th Street, from 71st Avenue to
Metropolitan Avenue;
• Gates Avenue, from Forest Avenue
to Seneca Avenue, and Linden
Street, from Cypress Avenue to
Fairview Avenue;
• Myrtle Avenue, from Fresh Pond
Road to Cooper Avenue; and
• Cypress Avenue, south of Myrtle
Avenue
City Council member Robert Holden
said that this road resurfacing is much
needed.
“Road resurfacing can be a big inconvenience,
as we all know,” Holden said.
“But it’s necessary to keep our roads in
good condition for the sake of safety
and not destroying cars and other
vehicles. I allocate as much funding to
road resurfacing as I can, because it’s
badly needed.So many of the roads all
over New York are in terrible shape.”
A representative from the Department
of Transportation said they are
pleased to do these resurfacing projects.
“We are always happy to work collaboratively
with Community Board 5 on
high-priority streets, and this state of
good repair resurfacing will improve
the day-to-day lives of Ridgewood
residents,” Brian Zumhagen from DOT
said.
Queens Blvd. bike lane to be completed in October
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
The long-delayed fourth section of
the Queens Boulevard bike lane fi nally
will wrap up on Oct. 29, making the
notorious roadway once known as the
“Boulevard of Death” safer for cyclists
and pedestrians, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced in Forest Hills.
“The Boulevard of Death becomes
the Boulevard of Life,” hizzoner said
at a press conference next to the newly
green-painted lanes on Queens Boulevard
near 70th Road. “The fi nal phase
of Queens Boulevard, the fi nal act of
Vision Zero on Queens Boulevard will
be completed next month, October
2021, once and for all.”
The four-phase project originally
began in 2015 heading east from Roosevelt
Avenue, and the fi nal section
between Yellowstone Boulevard to
Union Turnpike was supposed to
be installed almost three years ago
in November 2018, but was delayed
repeatedly until May when de Blasio
committed to fi nishing it.
The upgrades include new bike
paths on the service road separated
from traffi c by plastic fl appers, new
stop controls at ramps heading on and
off the roadway to avoid clashes with
cars, and longer left -turn bays for safer
turns, according to the Department of
Transportation.
In parts of the thoroughfare where
the bike lanes were installed earlier,
the city registered a 55% drop in pedestrian
injuries and 19% less crashes,
according to 2018 DOT stats.
“Let me tell you it has worked. As
each phase has been completed,
Queens Boulevard has become safer
and safer,” de Blasio said. “The number
of injuries has plummeted — thank
God — and this will make it even
better.”
Advocates praised the new bike lane
as life changing for Queens cyclists.
“Couldn’t be happier to fi nally ride
on this just this morning, it’s amazing
and it’s going to change lives of so
many people,” said Juan Restrepo of
Transportation Alternatives.
But the pedaler also repeated a push
by activists for the city to go further
and extend the lanes all the way to
Hillside Avenue in Jamaica.
“We want to eventually pass this
by Borough Hall, bring it all the way
down to Jamaica,” Restrepo said.
When pressed about the extension
by amNewYork Metro, the mayor declined
to make a commitment to bring
the “Boulevard of Life” to the more
Black and brown neighborhood to
the east during his three months and
change left in offi ce.
“One step at a time, we’re looking
citywide where all the next steps
should be, but Vision Zero’s going to
keep rolling,” he said following the
press conference. “Constant expansion,
that is what Vision Zero is all
about.”
A DOT rep would only say that the
agency will keep an eye on the boulevard
as a “priority corridor.”
“Queens Boulevard beyond Union
Turnpike is a Vision Zero priority
corridor, and therefore, as with any
priority corridor, we are looking into
potential future improvements,” said
Brian Zumhagen.
Cyclists ride down the Queens Boulevard bike lane on Sept. 22.
Photo courtesy of the mayor’s offi ce
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