The Rego Park senior focus area, which includes several blocks of Queens Boulevard, is slated for pedestrian improvements. Click here to enlarge. Image: NYCDOT.

DOT presented two plans to improve safety in Forest Hills and Rego Park, including a preliminary Safe Streets for Seniors proposal which encompasses a significant stretch of the traffic nightmare that is Queens Boulevard. Although the committee didn't vote on either one, members by and large reacted favorably.

Rego Park is home to one of 25 "Senior Pedestrian Focus Areas" that DOT has targeted for safety improvements due to a high density of crashes involving older pedestrians. Throughout the focus area, said DOT's Hillary Poole, signals will be recalibrated to give pedestrians more time to cross the street, and deteriorating pedestrian infrastructure will be replaced or refurbished. The project might also include some combination of high-visibility crosswalks, neckdowns, pedestrian refuge islands, road narrowing, or leading pedestrian intervals, pending results of a DOT study. The agency hasn't yet decided whether Queens Boulevard itself would receive a much-needed expansion of pedestrian space, but a wide variety of safety improvements are on the table for the whole area.

These ideas went over well with the committee, which seemed eager for some immediate action. One member asked whether the focus area could be expanded to a few intersections he felt were missing. Committee chair John Dereszewski told the DOT presenters that "if there's anything that doesn't have any cost, like signs or paint, you shouldn't wait for the final report."

The committee also heard a presentation from Queens DOT Commissioner Maura McCarthy proposing a street redesign for 67th Drive between Austin Street and Queens Boulevard. Motorists drive down that stretch too quickly, residents say, especially since their vision is limited by a hill along the street.

67th Drive at Queens Boulevard. Image: Google Street View.

DOT recommended giving 67th a road diet by converting it from a two-way to a one-way street and using that space to turn one lane of parallel parking into angled parking. According to McCarthy, the narrower street would reduce traffic speeds and add 20 new parking spaces.

A telling moment came when McCarthy mentioned an alternative traffic calming solution -- daylighting 67th Drive, which would make pedestrians more visible to motorists by removing parking spaces near intersections. The entire room groaned audibly. (Similarly, when Poole noted that the Safe Streets for Seniors redesign in Brighton Beach included a bike lane, she quickly caught herself: "Not to say we're installing any bike lanes here!") So, while the committee appeared ready to embrace the prospect of relatively major street redesigns for the Safe Streets for Seniors projects, the loss of a few on-street spaces to improve safety on 67th seemed too much to bear.

As for the one-way-plus-angled parking proposal, Dereszewski said that if the recommendation "were a stop sign, we'd vote on this today without objection." The committee informally decided, without objection, to consider DOT's recommendations and talk with the residents of 67th Drive before making any decisions.

Here's another opportunity for livable streets advocates to make themselves heard tonight: DOT will be hosting a public input session regarding congestion on Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens, focusing on the area between Queens Boulevard and Liberty Avenue.

Subjects to be discussed include: Traffic Volume, Roadway Alignment, Mass Transit, Physical Constraints and the Service Road.

There have been over half a dozen pedestrian fatalities and scores of ped- and bike-involved crashes on and along Woodhaven since 1995, according to Transportation Alternatives' CrashStat. So presumably safety will be part of the discussion as well.

• Time: 5:30 p.m.
  
• Location: Forest Hills Community Library, 108-19 71st Avenue (between Queens Boulevard and 110th Street)
• More info: Andrew Lenton, NYC DOT: 212-676-7985

Map of Woodhaven/Queens Blvd/LIE interchange: CrashStat

It's pretty dry reading but there is some interesting material on pages 9 to 11 under the header, "Neighborhood-Specific Discussions." For example, in the Forest Hills, Queens workshop:

Some participants felt that it was a right of residents to own cars because of the distance between Forest Hills and the Manhattan urban core. Those defending car ownership rights felt that it was the compromise made to not live as close to Manhattan.

Interesting, this "right" to own a car. I wonder if Queens car owners' rights include the right to free, convenient parking? Let me double check my copies of the U.S. Constitution and the New York City Charter and see if I can dig that up...

Dear Streetsblog Staff,
 
As you may remember, a couple months ago, Mayor Bloomberg authorized the NYPD to seize hundreds of bikes in Manhattan which were parked "illegaly" on city property.
 
Yesterday, I was shocked to find a similar incident occuring in my neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens as rangers from the City Parks and Recreation Department cutting chains to confiscate bicycles on 71st - Continental Avenue and Austin Street.
 
Later, I went to the Parks Department in Flushing Meadows Corona Park where the truck full of confiscated bicycles sat to get the scoop. Here, Captain Kenneth Brown informed me that today began a citywide campaign involving the City Parks and Recreation Department. This time all bikes chained to city trees or to the metal fencing around those trees will be seized in neighborhoods throughout the 5 boroughs. Bikes are then taken by truck to the nearest Parks Department Headquarters where they are held for 2-3 days before being sent to a depot in Long Island. In order to retrieve your bicycle, you must pay a $50 summons - that is if you can find it.

According to the Captain Brown, bicycles are only considered to be parked "legally" to bicycle racks. Unfortunately, the city does not provide proper bike racks here as in many other neighborhoods. The citizens of Forest Hills and surrounding areas rely on bicycle transportation for lack of reliable and adequate public transportation.

We'll let you know what the Parks Dept. has to say.