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Queens Pedestrian Safety Fixes Move Ahead Despite Opposition

Workers on a DOT truck reconfigured a traffic signal in front of P.S. 200 in Queens on Friday.

By Aaron Naparstek

11:52 AM EDT on September 4, 2007

Workers on a DOT truck reconfigured a traffic signal in front of P.S. 200 in Queens on Friday.

On Friday, I visited the intersection of Jewel Avenue and 164th Street in Fresh Meadows, Queens to take a look at the Department of Transportation’s latest controversial “road diet.” Despite a Monday morning press conference in which virtually all of the area’s local elected officials and leading Community Board members called for a halt to the City’s pedestrian safety plan, work went ahead as planned. DOT workers were reconfiguring traffic signals, removing stop signs, and putting up new one-way signs. By the time I got there, much of the street had already been re-striped. A more detailed report is on the way…

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.