A rendering showing the changes planned for Queens Boulevard from Roosevelt Avenue to 73rd Street. (DOT)
March 6, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
Queens Boulevard is set to undergo a major beautification project that will see a flourishing linear park along the median, changes to some slip lanes, and a Q60 bus line running through the median instead of the curb.
The proposal, part of the city’s $101 million Great Streets project, covers the area on Queens Boulevard from Roosevelt Avenue to 73rd Street—the first phase. The project is a continuation of the Department of Transportation’s plan, introduced in 2015, that brought significant safety improvements along the once deadly boulevard.
For the project, the concrete median running along the roughly one mile stretch to 73rd Street will be ripped up and rebuilt to include a pedestrian walkway, greenery, street lamps, bicycle racks, benches, and other streetscape amenities.
Past, present, and future conditions of Queens Boulevard along Phase I of the stretch. (DOT)
The medians are currently between 10 to 13 feet wide, and feature a roughly five foot pedestrian walk space flush against it, followed by a five foot protected bike lane. Under the new plan, the median will be widened to between 15 to 18 feet to accommodate pedestrians. A five foot raised bike lane, however, will be flush directly against the new median.
In another major change, the Q60 bus stops, currently on the service roads, will be relocated to the median under the DOT’s current plan. Shelters with benches will also be installed at the medians for passengers. Most bus stops will simply be pushed to the median from their exact location at the curb, but some may be eliminated completely under the new plan.
An overview of the changes coming to Queens Boulevard from Roosevelt Avenue to 73rd Street (DOT)
In some areas, like the southern side of 65th Place, a bus-only pull in stop will be implemented, which would constrict that portion of the lane to the Q60 bus. A bus boarding island will also be created at the north side of 65th Place toward the median.
To further accommodate buses, a portion of the main road by 69th Street, which currently has channelized spaces, will be transformed into an extra lane for buses, only.
A rendering of 69th St. with the DOT’s proposed improvements. (DOT)
The DOT says approximately 40 parking spaces will be added curbside due to the Q60’s relocation to the median.
While most of the changes for this installment of the project focus on beautifying the median and moving the bus route to the middle, minor changes will come to the roadways. The slips, where drivers can change lanes to cross the medians, will be updated to improve visibility for drivers with new road markings. A new westbound slip lane will also be created between 73rd and 70th Streets.
A map showing the location of a new westbound slip lane (DOT)
Raised intersections will also be built on 60th Street in front of the Big Six, where the roadway there currently features a flat divider. The raised intersection is meant to improve pedestrian crossings and calm vehicular traffic. The intersection will also be outfitted with slopes, making it easier for the elderly, those using walkers, and wheelchair users to get onto it.
At 66th Street by the BQE entrance, the DOT plans on reconstructing the street surrounding the ramp to increase pedestrian access and to make it easier for cars to drive directly into the highway.
A rendering of 60th Street in front of the Big Six. (DOT)
The DOT, which presented the project at last night’s CB2 Transportation Committee meeting, aims to improve access across and between neighborhoods, provide the boulevard with a park, make buses travel faster, and enhance livability for residents with their plan.
Construction work is expected to begin in 2019 for this phase. The Great Streets project as a whole, however, will move along the boulevard in phases, eventually reaching Yellowstone Boulevard and Union Turnpike in years to come.
“This is a very important milestone in the Queens Boulevard, Vision Zero, Great Streets project,” said Nicole Garcia, DOT Queens Borough Commissioner. “We are really going to create a beautiful boulevard that is worthy of the community and going to have the infrastructure to support the community for generations to come.”
Denise Keehan-Smith, chair of Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee and chairperson of the board, was staunchly opposed to moving the bus route from curbside to the median.
“This was never brought up before,” Keehan-Smith said. “I have no time to think about it. What is this—seriously?”
Keehan-Smith was especially concerned for seniors, as they make up the majority of Q60 riders.
A rendering of 65th Street near the BQE entrances (DOT)
“Seniors primarily ride those buses,” Keehan-Smith said. “They can barely cross the street now, and if they have to wait in an intersection or median, there’s going to be a lot of confusion. I just see this as a disaster.”
Crossing to the bus stops, Keehan-Smith added, will be difficult during the winter, as snow tends to pile up and block the crosswalk.
Garcia said the DOT typically does not require community board approval to carry on with a capital project, and merely presents to provide the community with information on the project.
But Garcia said she will be bringing concerns about moving the bus stops to the DOT’s offices, and will return to the board with the agency’s response.
Jordan Levine, a member of CB2’s transportation committee, said relocating the bus stops is a bold move that requires discussion, but nonetheless presents exciting prospects.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity to get better bus shelters and better bus service,” Levine said.
The chairperson ultimately demanded that the DOT meet directly with the communities along this one-mile path, and pressed for a community conversation to be held at the Big Six.
“Lets get the people who are going to be directly impacted by this in the room,” Keehan-Smith said.
For the full presentation, click here.
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16 Comments
TO BrooklynBus,
HAPPY EASTER
We are probably more on the ‘same page’ than we each can admit
The main problem is that the Non-sequence of each my postings makes your comments very ‘mixed-up’ & very incomplete….
Too bad you didn’t try the ‘method’ of CAP letters reply that directly followed Each of your comments/points….
….Anyway : FORGETTABOUTIT……………Your very last sentence is CORRECT.
HAPPY EASTER
Ben Curatolo
To ‘ BrooklynBus ‘
Your snappy comment – to quote you ” …is not even necessary to argue with you “….but I’ll force myself to respond to You.
…The ‘DOT’s Ambitious Plan’ will be an improvement to the current poor “Highway” situation of Queens Boulevard,~ but my comments are a totally different long term plan/design that I strongly believe will be necessary that I outlined in the small space that was allotted on their form.,
Here’s my “expanded” long term plan / design views/comments ~
1 It will probably take at least 10 years to greatly increase all forms of public transportation. Passenger cars ( only ) can then be banned …but not service and emergency vehicles, thereby reducing pollution. Then there will be No need to have a
” Highway ” ripping through the city and destroying it, as it has in other cities and towns.
Example: Boston buried their ‘ Highway’ that cut the city in two,…Etc. ( You must look up that entire “story” )..Other cities still have the same problems,- created in the 1950-70s mostly when the Car & Highway Industries convinced us all that everybody should have their own car to drive through any city. ( You must look up all that info too )
Robert Moses planned & built Queens Blvd as a Highway that was to continue right through Manhattan as a Highway !…He was stopped..thank god…( You must read & look up that entire ‘ story ‘ also ). The Cross Bronx Expressway was his “success”” …and we all know how wonderful it is, ( You don’t have to look it up, – You know all about it ! )…Etc.
Other Examples : Portland, Oregon, & London & Rome & Siena & Paris – have closed off sections to exclude individual cars from entering thereby freeing up their centers for people to use…etc. Buses permitted, and mass transit greatly improved.,
2. Add ” new small parks., like McDonald Park …..all along Queens Blvd ” that I noted, did not at all mean to completely cover Queens Blvd. ..Example : You should go to Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, ~ which is the same width & has the same amount of traffic as Queens Blvd , ~ but also has numerous benches & large arching tree, etc. Thereby becoming available for People for ” human communication”..That you should Clearly Understand.
3. That ” huge parking garage ” at that ” labyrinth failure … junction ” that I also noted, should have a ” New transportation station…. ” ~ connected to the ” increased all forms of public transportation “.in # 1 ( above )…
All that should be a very clear answers to your comments about ” parking cars ? & ” overcrowded subways ” & ” people travel in both directions ” & ” “get to work, school, or whatever …. ” It’s Total Planning/Designing. You obviously completely didn’t understand .
Money to do all this ?…. Billions were somehow ‘ found ‘ for the obviously failed LIE, Van Wyke , Union Turnpike ‘ junction’ that connects to Queens Blvd. They should also Tax the Car & Highway Industries.
..Remember, as I stated above- The ‘DOT’s Ambitious Plan’ will be an improvement to the current poor ” Highway ” situation of Queens Boulevard. My comments are a totally different long term plan/design that I strongly believe will be necessary.
Please don’t reply, -if you do – First, it will take you many months to read,& study everything I mentioned before you can give a intelligent non-snappy reply. I’ll try to copy my entire email on the ‘DOT Ambitious Plan ‘ site, but it’s probably too long, so you are getting here my full version directly.
I don’t know who you are, or how you were able to send an email to me,…. but I will end this all with the same last sentence as you did…….
” You Did a Very Good Job In Discrediting Yourself “.
Ben Curatolo
No, it will not take me many months to refute your statements because many of them are just plain incorrect. First of all, I never sent you an e-mail. You obviously requested the Forest Hills Post to notify you of future comments and they did just that. Second, you state that it will take at least ten years “to greatly increase all forms of transportation”. That must be the understatement of the century. Are you not aware that it has taken almost 100 years to complete just a small segment of the Second Avenue Subway? If the rest of it is ever completed, it will take at least another fifty years and the MTA is not willing to embark on any other major capital expansion projects to the subway system until at least Second Avenue and East Side Access is completed. East Side Access has been five years from completion since the 1970s. Then we have the LaGuardia link and possible Number 7 extension to NJ.
So how many years do you really think it will take “to greatly increase all forms of transportation? One hundred years? Two hundred years? An who knows what type of society we will have then? So in other words, it is totally ridiculous to even talk about banning cars completely from Queens Blvd. But you will just be slowing them down and causing massive traffic congestion or should I use the term you prefer, traffic calming.
You then talk about Boston burying their highway as if all went well with that idea. It was nicknamed “the big dig” because of all the problems and scandal around it and the length of time it took to accomplish. Are you remotely suggesting we do that to Queen Blvd which would not even be possible because of the subway underneath? Of course not. So why even bring it up?
I know all about Robert Moses. I read the Power Broker. Did you? I even went to several of the Robert Moses exhibits several years ago around the city and learned more about his ideas not in the Power Broker. I always thought his proposed Midtown Manhattan Expressway was a bad idea until I saw the model of it and it was actually quite brilliant. He proposed to completely demolish all the four story buildings between 32 and 33 Street and replace them with skyscrapers. The highway was to run on the second floor completely hidden by the buildings and was to be used primarily to transport vehicles between Long Island including Queens, and New Jersey actually removing vehicles from Manhattan’s streets and reducing congestion. Were you aware of that?
You talk about the Cross Bronx Expressway as a mistake. The only mistake was that it could have been constructed with far less demolition and relocation that Moses insisted on. What would have been the alternative for trucks to get from New England to the George Washington Bridge? Local city streets? Yes it is congested most of the time, but without it, the local streets would be far more congested. He also proposed a Cross Brooklyn Expressway that was never built. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get across Brooklyn without it? Almost impossible. Have you tried to travel north south in Brooklyn without using the BQE? Well it’s 90 minutes by car at best because Brooklyn has no other highways. By highway it is possible to reach Suffolk County in half the amount of time. According to you, highways are nothing but failures.
Then you start with alternative facts like saying Eastern Parkway is the same width as Queens Blvd and has the same amount of traffic and you tell me I should go there. Well, I grew up a half mile from Eastern Parkway and spent 25 years there so I am quite familiar with it. Eastern Parkway is roughly 150 feet, whereas Queens Boulevard according to Wikipedia is 200 feet wide. It is also half as long as Queens Boulevard which is 7.5 miles long. It can also accommodate twelve lanes according to Wikipedia, but now some of it is parking and bike and pedestrian lanes. Eastern Parkway, on the other hand has two very narrow service roads, not used for through traffic and only five through travel lanes. Queens Blvd now has eight. So to insinuate that both roads carry the same amount of traffic is just incorrect.
The reason Eastern Parkway can manage with fewer lanes and wider malls for pedestrians is due to the fact it is a Parkway that does not allow trucks and is constructed within the grid system so there are alternate parallel streets available whereas Queens Boulevard cuts across the grid system allowing for no parallel routes.
Then you talk about how billions were found to construct all the “failed highways” as you call them. If you read the Power Broker you would know that Moses found the money by preventing needed hospitals and schools from being built because his pet projects were highways and parks. Incidentally, he built over 200 playgrounds from scratch in a single year. Try doing that today. So he didn’t exactly believe that there shouldn’t be places to sit around and talk. He didn’t think and rightly so that they should be built in the middle of Queens Boulevard.
So how do you propose we “greatly increase all forms of transportation” which obviously does not include improving our roads and highways to make it easier to get around for the masses? Does it mean building bike lanes for the small percentage of avid commuter cyclists. Do you propose to not build needed schools and hospitals as Moses did? I think not. But you would propose to charge more for anyone who dares to drive a car during the hundred or two hundred years it will take to get our mass transit system in shape. So how are they to get around in the meantime? Cycle to the supermarket? And how are goods to be delivered? By bicycle as well?
I was correct. You did do a good job of discrediting yourself and are continuing to do so by making up your own facts.
TO ‘ BROOKLYN BUS ‘
I’M PUTTING MY ENTIRE REPONSE HERE TO YOU IN CAPITAL LETTERS- & YOUR PREVIOUS REPLY INTO SEPARATE PARAGRAPHS, WITH MY COMMENT DIRECTLY FOLLOWING ~ FOR CLARITY REASONS ONLY.,
ALSO, AS I PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED – MY COMMENTS ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN THE DOT PLAN FOR QUEENS BOULEVARD WHICH KEEPS IT AS A TERRIBLE ‘ HIGHWAY.’ THE ‘ LONG TERM PLAN / DESIGN ‘ I DESCRIBED WOULD BE A NEW PUBLIC LIGHT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM TOGETHER WITH OPEN PUBLIC SPACE, & ” ITALIAN PIAZZAS “, FOR COMMUNITIES & HOUSING ( ETC. ). – THAT TYPE HAS BEEN DEVELOPING AROUND THE WORLD, AND IN OUR COUNTRY ALSO. ~ AS COMPARED TO THE DOMINANT USE OF CARS, WHICH HAVE REQUIRED IMMENSE HIGHWAY SYSTEMS THAT RIP THROUGH OUR CITIES & TOWNS CAUSING TOWN & SUBURBAN SPRAWL, POLLUTION, NON-COMMUNITIES, AND ALIENATION….ETC…..ETC……………………ETC.
Author: BrooklynBus
Comment:
No, it will not take me many months to refute your statements because many of them are just plain incorrect. First of all, I never sent you an e-mail. You obviously requested the Forest Hills Post to notify you of future comments and they did just that.
APPARENTLY YOU DIDN’T REQUIRE A LOT OF TIME FOR YOUR EXTENSIVE REPLY, – ALSO, I GUESS I DID – WRONGLY- WANT RESPONSES.
Second, you state that it will take at least ten years “to greatly increase all forms of transportation”. That must be the understatement of the century. Are you not aware that it has taken almost 100 years to complete just a small segment of the Second Avenue Subway? If the rest of it is ever completed, it will take at least another fifty years and the MTA is not willing to embark on any other major capital expansion projects to the subway system until at least Second Avenue and East Side Access is completed.
YOUR SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY COMPARISON IS TERRIBLE. HOW MANY MILES OF SUBWAY WERE BUILT – & IMPROVED – AFTER THE 1904 START & 1939 ? ALSO, BETWEEN 1945 & 1970, AND 1980-2000, ETC….. ??
East Side Access has been five years from completion since the 1970s. Then we have the LaGuardia link and possible Number 7 extension to NJ. So how many years do you really think it will take “to greatly increase all forms of transportation? One hundred years? Two hundred years?
REFER TO MY ABOVE ANSWER, – ALSO, LONDON, PARIS, & ROME HAVE- IN THE LAST 30 YEARS – GREATLY INCREASED AND IMPROVED THEIR TRAIN & BUS SYSTEMS ,- THEREBY NOT DEPENDING ON THE AUTOMOBILE BY ITSELF. – SINCE ALL OF THOSE CITIES CENTERS, PLAZAS, ETC. WERE BEING FILLED WITH CARS, AS WE ALL KNOW….AND ‘DESTROYING’ THEM.
. And who knows what type of society we will have then? So in other words, it is totally ridiculous to even talk about banning cars completely from Queens Blvd. But you will just be slowing them down and causing massive traffic congestion or should I use the term you prefer, traffic calming.
PREVIOUSLY I DIDN’T SUGGEST CARS BE BANNED NOW AT ALL. I’LL REPEAT: – ” IT WILL PROBABLY TAKE AT LEAST 10 YEARS TO GREATLY INCREASE ALL FORMS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. PASSENGER CARS ( ONLY ) CAN THEN ONLY BE BANNED….. ”
You then talk about Boston burying their highway as if all went well with that idea. It was nicknamed “the big dig” because of all the problems and scandal around it and the length of time it took to accomplish. Are you remotely suggesting we do that to Queen Blvd which would not even be possible because of the subway underneath? Of course not. So why even bring it up?
I GAVE BOSTON AS AN ‘EXAMPLE’ ONLY – WHEN AN ABSOLUTEY TERRIBLE PAST DECISION WAS MADE TO RIP THROUGH BOSTON WITH A “…HIGHWAY THAT CUT THE CITY IN TWO…” AS I STATED. THE HORRENDOUS TASK WAS ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED TO CORRECT ALL THAT – – BUT, IT DOESN’T EXCUSE THE SCANDALS. ALSO, I DIDN’T REMOTELY SUGGEST THAT QUEENS BLVD SHOULD BE BURIED, I KNOW THE SUBWAY IS THERE – OF COURSE ! YOU SHOULD HAVE LOOKED UP THE ENTIRE ” STORY ” AS I SUGGESTED, BEFORE YOU MADE ALL YOUR ‘GREAT’ STATEMENTS. ETC…………………………………………………………
I know all about Robert Moses. I read the Power Broker. Did you? I even went to several of the Robert Moses exhibits several years ago around the city and learned more about his ideas not in the Power Broker. I always thought his proposed Midtown Manhattan Expressway was a bad idea until I saw the model of it and it was actually quite brilliant. He proposed to completely demolish all the four story buildings between 32 and 33 Street and replace them with skyscrapers. The highway was to run on the second floor completely hidden by the buildings and was to be used primarily to transport vehicles between Long Island including Queens, and New Jersey actually removing vehicles from Manhattan’s streets and reducing congestion. Were you aware of that?
I READ THE BOOK, WENT TO THE EXHIBITS, AND ALSO WENT TO LECTURES BY THE AUTHOR CARO & OTHERS. ALONG WITH OTHER MANY STUDIES – HIS PROPOSED MIDTOWN MANHATTAN EXPRESSWAY WAS DETERMINED TO BE COMPLETELY WRONG BY EVERYBODY, MAINLY BECAUSE IT RELIED COMPLETELY ON THE AUTOMOBILE FOR TRANSPORTATION. EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS WERE REQUIRED OF ALL OTHER FORMS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS AT THAT TIME. THE L. I. E. IS- OBVIOUSLY- A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY A SINGLE TYPE OF TRAVEL IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG. ALSO, YOU MUST READ ‘ LIFE AND DEATH OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES ‘ BY JACOBS- – TO FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW THE INDIVIDUAL AND THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS WERE BEING DESTROYED…ETC,…………………….
You talk about the Cross Bronx Expressway as a mistake. The only mistake was that it could have been constructed with far less demolition and relocation that Moses insisted on. What would have been the alternative for trucks to get from New England to the George Washington Bridge? Local city streets? Yes it is congested most of the time, but without it, the local streets would be far more congested.
RE-READ ALL THE ABOVE , – ALSO, BESIDES CARS & TRUCKS THE CBE COULD HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO INCLUDE ALL KINDS OF TRAINS. AND BUSES- REMEMBER ‘ TRAINS & BUSES ‘ ? ETC………………………………………………………
He also proposed a Cross Brooklyn Expressway that was never built. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get across Brooklyn without it? Almost impossible. Have you tried to travel north south in Brooklyn without using the BQE? Well it’s 90 minutes by car at best because Brooklyn has no other highways. By highway it is possible to reach Suffolk County in half the amount of time. According to you, highways are nothing but failures.
AGAIN, RE-READ ALL THE ABOVE. ALSO, OTHER FORMS OF TRAVEL ARE NOW BEING BE CONSIDERED, & THEY HAVE EVEN RE-STARTED THE VERY OLD 1800’S FERRY ROUTES. WE ACTUALLY FORGOT THAT WE ARE SURROUNDED BY WATER ! AND EVEN NEW TROLLY CAR ROUTES TO GET AROUND ARE BEING ‘DISCOVERED’ ! HIGHWAYS , I BELIEVE CAN ALSO BE RE-FITTED TO ALSO INCLUDE TRAINS. THEN THEY WOULD NOT BE A FAILURE. ETC………………………………………….
Then you start with alternative facts like saying Eastern Parkway is the same width as Queens Blvd and has the same amount of traffic and you tell me I should go there. Well, I grew up a half mile from Eastern Parkway and spent 25 years there so I am quite familiar with it. Eastern Parkway is roughly 150 feet, whereas Queens Boulevard according to Wikipedia is 200 feet wide. It is also half as long as Queens Boulevard which is 7.5 miles long.
THIS IS NOT AT ALL ABOUT ‘DIMENSIONS & CAR TRAFFIC LANES ‘. ~ EASTERN PARKWAY WAS USED ONLY TO COMPARE IT WITH QUEENS BOULEVARD’S TERRIBLE HUMAN CONDITION DIFFERENCES. ETC…………………………………………
It can also accommodate twelve lanes according to Wikipedia, but now some of it is parking and bike and pedestrian lanes. Eastern Parkway, on the other hand has two very narrow service roads, not used for through traffic and only five through travel lanes. Queens Blvd now has eight. So to insinuate that both roads carry the same amount of traffic is just incorrect.
SEE THE ABOVE.
The reason Eastern Parkway can manage with fewer lanes and wider malls for pedestrians is due to the fact it is a Parkway that does not allow trucks and is constructed within the grid system so there are alternate parallel streets available whereas Queens Boulevard cuts across the grid system allowing for no parallel routes.
REPEAT,….AND, EASTERN PARKWAY WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT BEFORE THE AUTOMOBILE. QUEENS BOULEVARD WAS DESIGNED & DEVELOPED LATER WITH ONLY THE AUTOMOBILE. IN MIND.- TO DIRECTLY RIP THROUGH TO MANHATTAN MAINLY ETC…………..
Then you talk about how billions were found to construct all the “failed highways” as you call them. If you read the Power Broker you would know that Moses found the money by preventing needed hospitals and schools from being built because his pet projects were highways and parks.
I AGREE WITH YOU 100% HERE…… ONLY.
Incidentally, he built over 200 playgrounds from scratch in a single year. Try doing that today. So he didn’t exactly believe that there shouldn’t be places to sit around and talk. He didn’t think and rightly so that they should be built in the middle of Queens Boulevard.
HIS PLAYGROUNDS, & PARKS WERE GOOD,- AND TOO BAD MORE SMALL MCDONALD TYPE PARKS WEREN’T INCLUDED. AND ONCE AGAIN, I WROTE NOTHING ABOUT “…. IN THE MIDDLE OF QUEENS BOULEVARD ”
So how do you propose we “greatly increase all forms of transportation” which obviously does not include improving our roads and highways to make it easier to get around for the masses? Does it mean building bike lanes for the small percentage of avid commuter cyclists. Do you propose to not build needed schools and hospitals as Moses did? I think not.
RE-READ EVERYTHING.
But you would propose to charge more for anyone who dares to drive a car during the hundred or two hundred years it will take to get our mass transit system in shape. So how are they to get around in the meantime? Cycle to the supermarket? And how are goods to be delivered? By bicycle as well?
RE-READ EVERYTHING.
I was correct. You did do a good job of discrediting yourself and are continuing to do so by making up your own facts.
THIS TIME I’M NOT GOING TO WRONGLY REPLY TO YOUR ‘ UNUSUAL ‘ LAST SENTENCE BY REPEATING IT,- BECAUSE SOMEDAY PEOPLE LIKE US WILL ONCE AGAIN COMMUNICATE BY TALKING FACE TO FACE IN AN OPEN ” ITALIAN PIAZZA ” TO DISCUSE OUR DIFFERENCES, –RATHER THAN BY THIS RIDICULOUS WAY. …….YOU ‘GET IT’ BY NOW… I’M SURE.
Ben Curatolo
It is not necessary for me to reread anything because I understood you the first time and you still are making inaccurate statements and making little or no sense.
So you don’t want to count all the idle time in the hundred years it took to build three stations for the Second Avenue Subway. Just counting construction time, it still took about 15 years and you are talking about ten years to completely modernize the system whereby we can then eliminate auto travel? Not going to happen.
You can change the parameters if you want regarding the Eastern Parkway /Queens Blvd discussion. I already made my points.
Yes I did read Jane Jacobs book back in the seventies. And no one is arguing with you regarding Moses’ refusal to include mass transit as part of the LIE or other highways or not allow it on his bridges was a mistake. But we can’t change the past.
You say Queens Blvd was designed after the automobile only considering the auto and nothing else. Need I remind you that at the same time Queens Blvd was widened to its current route, a subway was being constructed beneath it for a big portion of the roadway.
The only problem I have with the new ferries is the cost to operate them which is huge but I agree that we need to make better use of our waterways.
But we are still miles apart on everything else.
TO ‘ BrooklynBus ‘
I’LL REPLY TO YOU IN CAPITAL LETTERS -AGAIN- FOR CLARITY ONLY- FOLLOWING EACH ONE OF YOUR PARAGRAPHS…………………………………………… It is not necessary for me to reread anything because I understood you the first time and you still are making inaccurate statements and making little or no sense.
IT IS VERY OBVIOUS THAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.AS FOLLOWS ………………………..So you don’t want to count all the idle time in the hundred years it took to build three stations for the Second Avenue Subway. Just counting construction time, it still took about 15 years and you are talking about ten years to completely modernize the system whereby we can then eliminate auto travel? Not going to happen. Yes I did read Jane Jacobs book back in the seventies. And no one is arguing with you regarding Moses’ refusal to include mass transit as part of the LIE or other highways or not allow it on his bridges was a mistake. But we can’t change the past. YOUR SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY COMPARISON IS TERRIBLE. HOW MANY MILES OF SUBWAY WERE BUILT – & IMPROVED – AFTER THE 1904 START & 1939 ? ALSO, BETWEEN 1945 & 1970, AND 1980-2000, ETC….. YOU MUST LOOK UP THE ANSWERS IN WIKIPEDIA…. AND YOU MUST RE-READ THAT I WROTE ” AT LEAST …” THEN FURTHER EVALUATIONS MUST BE MADE….ETC….I DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING LIKE YOUR NEXT TO LAST SENTENCES, AT ALL….AND READ UP ON JACOBS BOOK AGAIN……………………………………… You can change the Parkway /Queens Blvd discussion. I already made my points.
YOU MUST LOOK UP : BRIEFLY,- QUEENS BLVD WAS DESIGNED & BUILT EARLY IN THE 20th CENTURY, WITH A TROLLY LINE:-IN THE 1930’s THE IND SUBWAY WAS BUILT, BUT WAS NOT EXTENDED AS PROPOSED, – INSTEAD IT BECAME A ‘EXPRESSWAY’ BY MOSES, – THAT’S THE PROBLEM ! ………………… And no one is arguing with you regarding Moses’ refusal to include mass transit as part of the LIE or other highways or not allow it on his bridges was a mistake. But we can’t change the past.
RE-READ THE SUMMARY IN WIKIPEDIA ABOUT THAT BOOK. IT’S MUCH MORE COMPLICATED. CHANGING THE PAST MISTAKES IS WHAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN REQUIRED, -AS HISTORY HAS ALWAYS ‘TAUGHT’ US ….ou say Queens Blvd was designed after the automobile only considering the auto and nothing else. Need I remind you that at the same time Queens Blvd was widened to its current route, a subway was being constructed beneath it for a big portion of the roadway.
YOU MUST LOOK UP : BRIEFLY,- QUEENS BLVD WAS DESIGNED & BUILT EARLY IN THE 20th CENTURY, WITH A TROLLY LINE:-IN THE 1930’s THE IND SUBWAY WAS BUILT, BUT WAS NOT EXTENDED AS PROPOSED, – INSTEAD IT BECAME A ‘EXPRESSWAY’ BY MOSES, – THAT’S THE PROBLEM ! ……………………………But we are still miles apart on everything else.
YOU HAVE NOT RESPONDED TO ALL MY OTHER STATEMENTS…BUT PLEASE DON’T …I WILL NOT RESPOND. I’M ONLY RESPONDING HERE BECAUSE I’M SURE OTHERS WILL WILL READ EVERYTHING AND UNDERSTAND THAT QUEENS BLVD IS A” HIGHWAY MISTAKE ” THAT NEEDS MASSIVE IMPROVEMENTSTO MAKE IT SAFE, AND FOR HUMAN BEINGS TO USE, RATHER THAN BY AUTOMOBILES……………………………………… Ben Curatolo
In ten years -or less- everybody will wonder why :
1. All cars were not banned from Queens Blvd, and all forms of public transportation greatly increased, thereby reducing pollution.
2. Why new small parks, like McDonald, were not created all along Queens Blvd.- thereby increasing the human communication ‘system’-and’nature’ itself.
3. And, the money for it all ( ? ) ..the same way billions were found
for the obvious labyrinth failure of the Kew Gardens LIE, Van Wyke, Union Turnpike ‘ junction ‘ that hurtles individual cars onto Queens Blvd – which is the reason Queens Blvd is a failure… And build a huge parking garage with a public transportation station there, so that those people can’t stop driving, can continue their journeys into all parts of New York City.
4….And, get the Traffic Engineers out of their individual cars, to have them join the pedestrians in the new small parks for human communication, and ‘nature’. !
So you want to ban all cars from Queens Blvd and turn it into a park. Well I guess that is the only way you will achieve Vision Zero. I guess all those people currently using Queens Blvd to get to work won’t have to work anymore because they all will be sitting in the park “increasing the human communication system”. And how will all all those people parking their cars in the “huge parking garage” fit into our already overcrowded subways assuming the subways would even take them to their destination. You realize of course that people travel in both directions along Queens Boulevard to get to work or school or wherever they are going. Apparently you really haven’t thought this through just as the incompetents at DOT doesn’t know what they are doing either. With the foolish arguments you make, it is not even necessary to argue with you. You did a very good job of discrediting yourself.
I can’t continue arguing with you any longer because you are no longer making any sense. I am responding here briefly because the website permits no further comment to your newest statements. We were talking about the length of time to construct the Second Avenue Subway and you now change that discussion to all the subway miles ever built in NY. And for your information the amount built after WWII is negligible and if you count the demolition of the els, we even have less rapid transit miles today, but none of that is pertinent to the original discussion.
And now you are even taking issue with this statement: “And no one is arguing with you regarding Moses’ refusal to include mass transit as part of the LIE or other highways or not allow it on his bridges was a mistake.” So I have no idea where you are going with this, nor do I care.
Then you state: “Need I remind you that at the same time Queens Blvd was widened to its current route, a subway was :being constructed beneath it for a big portion of the roadway.”
That was the exact point I was making when you claimed Queens Blvd was built as an expressway ignoring mass transit.
The IND not being extended as proposed is also irrelevant to Queens Blvd being a linear park.
Finally, you still falsely claim Queens Blvd is not safe and needs to be redesigned after DOT hailed their improvements as resulting in zero fatalities in two years.
I also doubt if anyone other than us two are even reading this.
Haha…I love DOT’s New Speak. The Great Streets Project is a misnomer if there every was one. A more accurate moniker might be, Changing Great Streets to Skinny Parks Project.
Since DOT has decided to utilize Queens Blvd. as a linear park, maybe they won’t need the Rockaway Beach Branch (AKA QueensRail) right-of-way for that purpose.
Surely if the City was serious about relieving traffic congestion it would rebuild this critical connection between south Queens and JFK with the rest of the Borough and midtown Manhattan. But it’s not, so it won’t.
Will there be a charge to sleep in the park overnight? Asking for a friend.
Of course, Mr. Beadle, the increased delays to traffic and air pollution and its harmful health effects due to the proposal do not concern you. Only cyclists, bus riders, and pedestrians matter you you. And if DOT has been so successful in making Queens Boulevard safer, why are any more capital expenditures even necessary? DOT should not be allowed to do whatever it damn pleases regardless of what the citizens want. They are completely out of control and it is because of our mayor who is even more dictatorial than Bloomberg was.
Another waste of our money and assault on drivers, resident and businesses.
They will take one lane and dedicate it to buses, it will create more traffic and pollution. The linear park will be too narrow with benches facing the traffic jam they will create.
They should get rid of useless bike lanes and put back parking spaces and use that money to create roads, not take them away.
40 parking spaces are not nearly enough.
I’ve never understood opposition to median bus stops. On a roundtrip you have to cross the entire boulevard on either the outbound or the return trip. With this design you don’t have to cross any more of the street. You just cross the service road on the way out and on the way back you only cross ¾ of the Boulevard’s width to come home. It’s a wash, but in return you get faster bus service, new and more numerous shelters and 40 parking spaces (about 20 more than lost originally) Why wouldn’t you want that?
The purpose of median bus stops as you claim is to provide faster bus service. It does that at the expense of other traffic. Why did bus service on Queens Blvd become so slow in the first place? It is because in 2001 DOT removed a traffic lane from the service greatly slowing down bus and car traffic. So a better solution would be to nod the previous harm DOT caused rather than causing additional harm. That’s how to get faster bus service.
Sounds logical to me! How DOT can continually remove traffic lanes and then complain about increased congestion is just mind boggling. More disturbing however is that we let them get away with it. Enough already!