Woodhaven Boulevard (Google Maps)
May 10, 2021 By Allie Griffin
The city will lower the speed limit on Astoria Boulevard, Woodhaven Boulevard and a number of other arterial streets in Queens in coming weeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) will lower the speed limit on more than 25 miles of roadway in the borough by 5 MPH in an effort to expand on de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” street safety program.
The 25 miles is a significant portion of the 45 miles of major streets citywide that will see the speed limit reduced. The select streets have some of the highest number of crashes in New York City, de Blasio said.
“We’re lowering speed limits on over 45 miles of major streets in this city,” the mayor said at a press briefing this morning. “We’re focusing on some of the areas where we’ve seen the most crashes, and this is a way to create safety and accountability.”
The Queens streets that will undergo the speed reduction are:
- —Woodhaven Boulevard from Queens Boulevard to Rockaway Boulevard, 4.3 miles (30 MPH to 25 MPH)
—Astoria Boulevard from 111th Street to 8th Street, 3.9 miles (30 MPH to 25 MPH)
—Cross Bay Boulevard from Rockaway Boulevard to the Cross Bay North Boulevard Bridge, 2.5 miles (30/40 MPH to 25/35 MPH)
—Van Wyck Service Road E/W from 135th Avenue to Queens Boulevard, 3.1 miles (30 MPH to 25 MPH)
—South Conduit Avenue from Sutter Ave to Sunrise Highway, 5.3 miles (35 MPH to 30 MPH)
—North Conduit Avenue from Sutter Ave to Sunrise Highway, 6.6 miles (35 MPH to 30 MPH)
The city will be putting up new signage with the reduced speed limits in coming weeks. The new limit for a given street will go into effect once the signage is up.
Speed cameras along the routes will be reprogrammed to the new speed limits and will begin ticketing people based on the lower limits 60 days after new signage is posted. Drivers are ticketed upon going 10 MPH above the limit.
De Blasio also announced that more officers will be out in force across the five boroughs this week to crack down on drivers who speed and fail to yield to pedestrians and cyclists, as well as those who block bike lanes.
Each NYPD precinct will assign a traffic safety team to participate in the increased enforcement effort from Monday through Sunday. Teams will be stationed at intersections where there is a history of pedestrians and cyclists being hit by cars, de Blasio said.
The mayor also called on the state legislature this morning to allow speed cameras to operate 24/7. Currently, they are only permitted by state law to run from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays only.
More than 1,300 speed cameras are now active citywide and de Blasio has allocated money in his executive budget to expand the number of cameras to 2,000 by the end of the year.
De Blasio said he respects the concerns of drivers who complain about the lower speed limits and additional cameras, but safety comes first.
“I know some people gripe about it — I respect the concerns — but this is about safety,” he said. “This is about saving lives. This is about protecting kids, about protecting seniors.”
According to the DOT’s latest speed camera report, speeding is down by more than 70 percent on average at locations where speed cameras have been installed—and injuries are down 17 percent at the same locations.
(DOT)
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8 Comments
It’s one more way to get money from Queens residents for whom these massive thoroughfares are the only roads to travel to work and back. It’s not done for safety reasons that is for sure.
Mr.Mayor would you rather have them on welfare? That could happen you know because $50 here, $50 there, it really makes a difference to a person that is trying to hold a job in NYC and is compelled to use the boulevards back and forth, day after day.
I must add it looks like the speed cameras were added to the existing red light cameras. Our mayor is very consumer minded??? however not sure, just my impression, however, worth investigating.
Yet another way to raise money for the city that is being bankrupted by the inept leadership. More cameras, of course, that is the cure. Why don’t they automatically ticket every car once a month, just for being on the road
Yes mayor is sick man should be in jail for the crime he did to the city
He should be never as mayor same as Como both should be responsible for distoying city of New York
Now speed limit looking for the money get on tickets
Ye clean city from homes and make city safe focus on this first
It is a shame to have as mayor
More revenue generation under the guise of safety. If this was truly a safety issue they would place these on Metropolitan Ave, Austin St, Roosevelt Ave, school zones and other main roads where pedestrians are in abundance. Not on roads that were designed as mini parkways to briskly get from one borough to another or to one side of a borough to another. Absolute BS.
You could change the speed limit to 5 miles an hour. It’s not going to change the fact that drivers not only go over speed limits in residential areas, but they go through steady red lights, the drive around the cars in front of them to make the light (in my area this is done daily and even at night, with some drivers forgetting to put their lights on after it gets dark). This is how the traffic lights work. The walk sign goes on first and then about 7 seconds later (I’ve counted), the traffic light changes. It’s to give pedestrians more time to cross. But I understand voicer Doug La. Pedestrians stroll across the street when you’re trying to make a turn before the light changes and they think when they cross in the middle of the street, that your car can stop on a dime! Changing the speed limit is a worthless effort, like everything else the people who run this city have done. Get rid of Big Foot and everybody who works(?) for him. They work for the people of this city, which they keep forgetting.
Hopefully this task force will also address J-walking and cyclists who disobey the traffic laws. Zero tolerance should be Zero tolerence.
If safety is truly a priority his concern should include the hundreds of reckless atv drivers, scooters and car racers ruining the quality of life of the communities they terrorize with their speed and obnoxious exhausts every single day on residential streets and highways. No citizen should have to waste precious hours complaining on citizen apps and calling 311 every day waiting for someone to help them out of their misery. Lawlessness has taken over and is the new norm….this apathy and lack of actionsends a very bad message.
Enough is enough traffic is bad enough we don’t need lower speed limits we need smarter pedestrians who don’t think they are above the law. The mayor is clueless no one knows what the flashing don’t walk signs mean and if they kept their face out of the phone like drivers have to do you would not have a problem