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Increasing street safety in Astoria
Queens councilman spearheads infrastructure project along accident-prone boulevard
BY MAX PARROTT
Councilman Costa
Constantinides has secured
funding to make safety
improvements running
from a stretch of Astoria
Boulevard that has proven
particularly dangerous.
Early on in his tenure as
councilman, Constantinides
targeted stretch running
from 80th Street to 90th Place
after several fatal accidents
transpired there.
“It really functions
more like a highway than
a street, particularly in
that neck of the woods,”
Constantinides said.
The width of the six-lane
road encourages cars to
persistently speed through
the area. Constantinides’
$300,000 endowment will
go to street improvements
including median work,
sidewalk extensions, a new left
turn bay for all vehicles and a
new crosswalk.
While the councilman held
a workshop on this issue with
DOT in 2015, the changes that
came out of those discussions
were focused on parking times
and other soft forms of road
calming. In 2016, a van struck
and killed a toddler on Astoria
Boulevard and 92nd Street as
the mother fixed her stroller.
The accident underscored
the demand for concrete
infrastructure work in the
area. Constantinides’ office
will provide funding for the
Department of Transportation
to implement. He says the
safety infrastructure is the
first step in his what feel needs
to be a conversation around
the redesign of the Astoria
Boulevard to make it safer for
pedestrians and cyclists.
“If you live on one side of
the Astoria Boulevard, and
you want to get a quart of milk
on the other side, it shouldn’t
be a dangerous endeavor,”
said Constantinides.
The end goal, he says, is to
enable the street to function
like part of a neighborhood
rather than a traffic corridor
for cars to get from one end of
Queens to the other. With that
broader goal, this is just the
first step.
“It’s as a strong down
payment to get things done
on Astoria Boulevard,”
Constantinides said.
Reach reporter Max
Parrott by email at mparrott@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260-2507.
GAME, SET, MATCH
Fans across the “World’s Borough” enjoyed a free day of tennis-related fun during “Queens
Day” at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Aug. 20. Dominick Totino Photography
Vol. 7 No. 35 48 total pages
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