4 NOVEMBER 2, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Will SBS solve Woodhaven Blvd. 'nightmare'?
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
With the Select Bus Service
(SBS) project inching
towards implementation
along Woodhaven and Cross Bay
boulevards on Nov. 12, the NYC Department
of Transportation (DOT)
is optimistic that these changes will
improve traffi c fl ow through the corridor,
while Community Board 5 (CB
5) remains very apprehensive.
Jason Banrey, the DOT Queens deputy
borough commissioner, visited
the board’s Transportation and Public
Transit Committees joint meeting on
Oct. 24 at the board offi ce in Glendale
to address many of the board’s concerns
as the SBS project nears.
One major cause for concern is the
traffi c nightmare that has developed
as a result of DOT construction at the
intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard
and Union Turnpike.
“In my view, what is taking place at
that intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard
and Union Turnpike has been
terrible for the neighborhood and this
has gone on already for probably about
a month,” said Gary Giordano, district
manager of CB 5.
The project taking place aims to
make the intersection safer by removing
the service road mediums
to create a simpler and safer central
medium with passenger refuge along
Woodhaven Boulevard from Union
Turnpike to 81st Road. It also restricts
southbound left turns from Woodhaven
Boulevard to Union Turnpike, while
creating a turn bay for U-Turns at 81st
Road to allow access to Union Turnpike.
“That intersection is one of the most
deadly intersections in the city of New
York, if not the borough of Queens,
Thursday, November 9, 8PM
68-20 Myrtle Avenue, Glendale
which is why we are banning that
south-bound left turn from Woodhaven
Boulevard on to eastbound Union
Turnpike,” Banrey said. “That will be
ready to be implemented at launch, on
Nov. 12.”
In addition, the forcing of drivers
going eastbound on Union Turnpike
to make a right turn onto Woodhaven
Boulevard has “caused extreme chaos
in the neighborhood,” Giordano added.
The reason for that turn is to protect
the workers at the intersection while
they complete construction and to allow
people to continue to fl ow through,
Banrey said. He also confi rmed that
this regulation will not continue once
the project launches on Nov. 12.
“If this is what the traffi c planners
have done,” Giordano said. “Then I
really am fearful that this plan for
SBS, which Board 5 did not fi ght…I’m
worried that if they did things like
this, if their numbers are right for
Woodhaven Boulevard for the SBS.”
DOT believes, however, that drivers
will start to see some traffi c alleviation
at the intersection as they continue to
remove construction barrels in the area
as implementation of the SBS lanes
nears, and the possibility to make a
left turn is added on 81st Street.
As drivers look to avoid the headache
at that intersection, they began
to spill over onto residential streets,
most notably 88th Street. Banrey
says that DOT believes that once the
project is complete, the spillover will
also end.
Once implementation begins on
Nov. 12, DOT’s work in the area is not
done. Crews will be examining and
studying how people are taking to the
new regulations, and will be looking
to add in slip lanes to the roads to help
drivers access the residential side
streets along Woodhaven Boulevard.
File photo/Ridgewood Times
Community Board 5 isn't so sure that the SBS plan will help reduce the
traffi c jams at Union Turnpike and Woodhaven Boulevard.
