DCP Sketches Out Waterfront Transit and Safer Streets for Western Queens

A new transitway from LaGuardia Airport to Downtown Brooklyn is the most ambitious recommendation in a draft report [PDF] from the Department of City Planning on transportation in Western Queens, which also includes a raft of smaller changes that would make the streets of Astoria and Long Island City safer and more livable.

While the transitway is the report's leading recommendation, DCP doesn't go into much detail other than recommending future study of curbside bus lanes or center-running light rail that would hug the East River between Downtown Brooklyn and the Grand Central Parkway before jumping onto the highway to LaGuardia Airport. The report is more specific about changes to existing transit service, recommending a realignment of bus service and bringing back express subway service to Astoria.

The report is mostly devoted to the potential for traffic calming, recommending curb extensions and crosswalks for both Crescent Street and 21st Street, which has been a priority of Transportation Alternatives. At the complex multi-leg intersection of 21st Street and Astoria Boulevard, the authors recommend curb extensions and pedestrian islands, and the intersection of Astoria Boulevard, Main Avenue, and Vernon Boulevard would also get a major redesign with large sidewalk extensions and plazas.

"None of the streets there carry a lot of traffic, but the traffic movements there are just insane," said Steve Scofield, a TA volunteer who attended a meeting DCP hosted on Monday to present its draft findings. "Clarifying that [intersection] could help everybody."

In a bit of a surprise, the report suggests installing a pedestrian plaza at Newtown and 30th Avenues in Astoria, a plan that Community Board 1 rejected two years ago in favor of curb extensions. Scofield said one CB 1 member at Monday's meeting was not happy to see the plaza concept revived by DCP.

The plan also recommends pedestrian-activated flashing traffic signals on Vernon Boulevard, where crosswalks are currently up to 2,000 feet apart. At the southern end of Vernon Boulevard near Jackson Avenue, DCP suggests expanding the existing "greenstreet" to add more pedestrian space and crosswalks. A second option for that location would create a large plaza and protected bike lane.

The report suggests a two-way protected bike path on the Roosevelt Island Bridge with direct connections to greenways on the island, as well as a protected bikeway along 36th Avenue from the bridge to the subway. Scofield said he hopes DCP would extend the recommended bikeway east, to connect with bike lanes on 28th and 29th Streets.

DCP also suggested signage to remind pedestrians at Queens Plaza that they are crossing a two-way bike path, and the introduction of PARK Smart adjustments to meter prices at retail areas along Vernon Boulevard and Steinway Street.

While the recommendations are coming from the Department of City Planning, most of the implementation relies on DOT. First, DCP must finish its report. "In the coming months, DCP planners will continue this public engagement process to work with community residents and stakeholders to further refine the recommendations and issue a final report and action plan," said DCP spokesperson Peter Schottenfels. "We hope to have finalized the recommendations by the end of the year."