Comments on: Make Queens Boulevard a Complete Street

By: Quinn

Quinn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:00:02 +0000

At first I was against this plan. Even though I regularly go to Manhattan from Elmhurst (I go up B'way or Judge Street (a quiet side street) to either Woodside Avenue or the Corona to LIC bike lane via 34th Avenue & Skillman & then go to Manhattan) I avoid Queens BLVD. The Danger of course. & that there was a large hill in the woodside section which did slow me down. However now that I think about with my new bike hills are easier (cuz I have only one gear). So Building a Greenway from Jamaica to Woodside would be great & make sure to mix it up with BRT/Streetcars. Then it can go from the long strip of S**T filled with Car Dealers & motels where high schoolers have sex after graduation to the Avenue Champs Elysées. & I might have a new way to get to Manhattan or LIC sans bike if there is BRT. (For my High School Commute to BK)

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:59:47 +0000

Looks like the Cap'n cleared up the question of when comments with links get blocked: when they're not part of an HTML anchor.

Poignant touch, using Rahman's music for the video.

Caroline, is there time to include streetcars or BRT in the plan?

By: Caroline Samponaro

Caroline Samponaro — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:56:01 +0000

Thank you to all who came out yesterday to support the Rahman family and to stand with Transportation Alternatives as we launch our campaign to turn Queens Boulevard into a 'complete street' by winning a protected bike lane and pedestrian safety improvements on this vital transportation artery.

As the City works to meet its goals of increasing commuter cyclists by 50% and decreasing traffic fatalities by 50%, a re-design of Queens Boulevard is critical to meeting these goals in Queens. Queens Boulevard is the route people already are, and will continue to use to connect to transit, to walk and to bike because it is the most direct route between neighborhoods in Queens and into and out of Manhattan.

The 'Complete Queens Boulevard' campaign is a large project and it will require a lot of support from the community and elected officials alike. Please contact me if would like to join in this fight:
caroline [at] transalt [dot] org
646-873-6021

Please write to Mayor Bloomberg and ask for a protected bike lane and pedestrian safety improvements on Queens Boulevard to be incorporated into the larger PlaNYC sustainability goals for NYC.
Mayor Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Please contact Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and ask her to stand with the community on this important issue.
Queens Borough President Marshall
120-55 Queens Blvd
Kew Gardens, NY 11424

Please contact your local elected officials and ask them to do the same:
City Council:
http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml
State Assembly: http://www.cmap.nypirg.org/netmaps/MyGovernment/NYC/MyGovernmentNYCMaps.asp?DistType=nyc_ad
State Senate: http://www.senate.state.ny.us/sdlookup.nsf/Public_search?OpenForm

After the City implemented a series of recommended pedestrian safety improvements in early 2000, annual injuries and fatalities on Queens Boulevard dropped from 150/200 annually, to 100 (current number). This proves that street design can help prevent injuries and fatalities, but it also demonstrates the need for more.

Thank you to Councilmember Genarro and his staff for making this press conference happen, and to Councilmembers Gioia and Lui for signing on their support to this initiative as well.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:39:46 +0000

Looks like my comment is being held for moderation. Let's try again: Complete streets include streetcars, don't they?

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:37:37 +0000

To build on JK's mention of BRT, complete streets include streetcars, don't they?

http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-to-do-with-steinway-tunnel.html

By: Visionary

Visionary — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:44:03 +0000

Thanks TA for putting our local representatives (especially those in charge of pedestrian safety committees)in the hot seat.
Dare they continue to turn a blind eye on this.

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:09:18 +0000

WOW!!! I'm impressed with Councilman Jim Gennaro. He is the first politician I've seen that seems to understand that a bicycle helmet is really nothing but a last ditch effort to save a cyclist's life and NOT the first line of defense particularly when in an accident with a motor vehicle. I'm getting pretty tired of hearing politicians spout the need for bicycle helmets and helmet laws as if that will solve everything and that it is the ONLY thing that they need to do for bicycle safety. In a truely safe cycling environment, a bicycle helmet really becomes optional and is simply an form of ADDED insurance. The suspenders in "belt and suspenders" so to speak. Again, congratulations to Councilman Jim Gennaro for "getting it!"

By: Traff

Traff — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:07:52 +0000

Not yet. This weekend, I promise I've been stubbornly resisting joining for personal reasons, but I've got to get over my bitterness...

Hey, maybe they'll give me the job next time

By: Lindsi Seegmiller

Lindsi Seegmiller — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:54:21 +0000

Traff, are you a TA member yet? That would be a great way to go about that, as well as make it easier for you to get involved with the push for a bike lane on Queens Blvd.

http://www.transalt.org

By: Traff

Traff — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:49:57 +0000

Yeah, someone could've organized better weather, but it was great to see plenty of people out for a good cause. I didn't know Asif, but I salute his ghost bike as I ride past every day. I felt it was my duty as a cyclist and Queen's Blvd commuter to come out and make my voice heard. I'm also going to stop procrastinating and send TA some $$$. And if can do anything more to help get a bike lane on QB, I'll be there....

By: Joby Jacob

Joby Jacob — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:21:06 +0000

Also,
the right of way of Queens Blvd was originally built out because it was planned to be a highway. q.v. http://www.nycroads.com/roads/queens-blvd/
Given that it is actually a road, and not a limited access highway, i suggest NYC change it into something more along the lines of Eastern Parkway.
I looked quickly at it on Google Earth, and they seem to be roughly the same width.
Unlike E Parkway, though, the side roads should not be for local traffic they could be bus/bike lanes. That would be a great configuration, and simultaneously discourage people from using it as a "thru"-way. (It would also make for a tremendous amount of green space right through NewTown, which of the 3 towns of Queens County (Jamaica, & Flushing being the others) has the least greenspace.

By: Joby Jacob

Joby Jacob — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:05:20 +0000

JK, agree with you about CP, however since that turkey isn't going to fly, (well not till November at the earliest anyways), i think the best approach is to engineer the traffic out. Build the roads for the people not for the cars, and eventually the lack of traffic lanes and newly beautified boulevard will discourage ppl from driving down the blvd, and encourage peds/bikers, to take advantage of the new facilities. this will feed into less eastern queens ppl driving and thus ppl in those parts will be less against CP.

By: Shemp

Shemp — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:05:09 +0000

Sorry, eastwards.

By: Shemp

Shemp — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:04:54 +0000

Maybe some some inspiration can be gleaned from the upcoming overhaul of Queens Plaza and marched westwards.

By: JK

JK — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:52:11 +0000

Queens Blvd is still a mess, but "long neglected" it's not. The DOT has done a a great deal of work in the last ten years. There are a ton of reports on the DOT website which document the ped improvements they have made, including some within the last couple years. Agreed with above comment that a total redesign would cost a big pile. It would have to be done in conjunction with major subway and BRT work to make it worthwhile. Also, not noted is that congestion pricing would have taken a lot of pressure off of Queens Boulevard and allowed for more flexible use of the right of way.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:32:29 +0000

Might want to modify that: "...with vision, hard work and hundreds of millions of dollars, the street could become one of the city's most European boulevards."

Besides the usual expense of capital street reconstruction, Queens Boulevard sits on top of subway lines, making it that much more complicated (and expensive) to do any significant reconfiguration.

By: Heffron

Heffron — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:24:15 +0000

As long as we're spreading the love thanks to the Forest Hills 72 blog and the Queens Central blog for helping get the wheels moving in the first place.

By: Forest Hills 72

Forest Hills 72 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:09:42 +0000

Great work on the Street Film. Thanks for all your help, especially Mike Heffron, in getting this long neglected issue some heat.

By: Jaywalker

Jaywalker — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:05:01 +0000

Could not agree more.

By: uSkyscraper

uSkyscraper — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:30:20 +0000

I was gazing down on QB the other day from a 10th floor office window - the street really is a mess. It requires substantial rethinking in terms of sidewalks, trees, parking, biking and transit. Any easy fix will not be enough, but with vision and hard work the street could become one of the city's most European boulevards.