Queens

Here's a look at NYCDOT's plan for the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge [PDF], which would give cyclists traveling between Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Sunnyside, Queens a safer and more comfortable ride by installing bike lanes with extra-wide buffers. The project recently got some press in the Brooklyn Paper for attracting the opposition of local trucking interests.

The mother of a student at PS 162 in Queens is in critical condition after a driver struck her in front of the school this morning. The crash occurred as the parent was crossing 53rd Avenue between 201st and 202nd Streets at around 9:10 this morning, in view of students and teachers, according to a press release from Council Member Mark Weprin.

Plans for a new pedestrian area between Hoyt Avenue South and Astoria Boulevard. Pedestrians already crowd this space, which is only set off from traffic by striping (visible under the simulated sidewalk). Rendering: NYCDOT NYCDOT has proposed a significant street redesign for the base of the RFK Bridge (a.k.a. the Triborough) in Astoria [PDF], a … Continued

It's not every day that a New York City real estate executive name-checks Donald Shoup, but one developer admiringly referred to the dean of progressive parking policy while explaining his project to Streetsblog. If not for the New York City Economic Development Corporation and mis-directed political pressures, says TDC Development President Michael Meyer, the huge mixed-use project he's building at one of the biggest transit hubs in Queens could have made better use of enlightened parking policy. 

A new report says pedestrian injuries in some parts of Queens are at their highest levels in almost a decade.

Last week brought another prime example of Bloomberg administration schizophrenia on urban sustainability. After his flight back from the Copenhagen climate summit, the mayor's first stop was a former auto pound in College Point, Queens, where he met up with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to break ground on the city's new $750 million police academy.

Clarence Eckerson sends these shots of DOT street safety improvements taken on a recent ride near the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront. Above is the newly traffic-calmed intersection of Joralemon and Hicks -- part of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project -- which now sports two sidewalk extensions. (According to the Post, a third corner was slated for a curb extension, but DOT changed plans after residents said they were worried about how fire trucks would negotiate the turn.) Says Clarence: "I am sure the speed reductions will be dramatic, the equivalent of a chicane."

Wednesday morning in Douglaston, Queens, an out-of-control driver plowed into a small crowd of commuters waiting for a Q30 bus. Witnesses say the as-yet-unidentified motorist, 17, was attempting to pass another vehicle when he lost control on rain-slicked Douglaston Parkway and jumped the curb. Reports vary, but of the approximately half-dozen people hit, several suffered serious injuries. Some victims were knocked through the back wall of the shelter, shattering the glass.

This past August, a young cyclist and a beloved Transportation Alternatives volunteer, James Langergaard, was struck and killed by a car at Queens Boulevard and 69th Street.