Queens CB 1 Votes for Protected Bike Lanes By Astoria Park

By a vote of 33 to 1 last night, Queens Community Board 1 endorsed DOT’s plan for traffic-calming on the streets around Astoria Park.

Local electeds requested traffic-calming in the area after a hit-and-run driver killed 21-year-old Betty DiBiaso at the intersection of 19th Street and Ditmars Boulevard, at the park’s northeast corner.

The DOT redesign will add two-way protected bike lanes on sections of Hoyt Avenue North, 20th Avenue, and Shore Boulevard [PDF], with the agency planning to address pedestrian crossings on 19th Street, the park's eastern border, in the near future.

On Shore Boulevard, which separates the park from the East River waterfront, the northbound travel lane will be repurposed as a protected bike lane, and DOT will create safer pedestrian crossings between the park and the water.

In a statement commending the board's vote, Council Member Costa Constantinides said the redesign "will bring greater traffic sanity to the streets around the jewel of our neighborhood, Astoria Park," and that more must be done to improve safety on nearby streets.