Photo: DOT
Jan. 28, 2016 By Michael Florio
Responding to requests from the residents of 77th Street, the Department of Transportation is working to turn a narrow section of that road one-way.
The one-way conversion would apply to 77th Street between 25th Avenue and 30th Avenue and will require a route change for the Q47 bus, which currently runs back and forth on that block.
Residents have been clamoring for years to have this change implemented, stating that the street is not wide enough for two-way traffic, especially the buses.
One resident of the block, Melissa Splawnik, claims that her car has been hit four times on the block, including “nearly being totaled on New Year’s Day.”
Resident traffic photos presented to CB 3
“It is too narrow and just very dangerous for drivers, pedestrians and to park your car there,” she said.
Assemblyman Michael DenDekker visited Community Board 3 last week to support the conversion. According to DenDekker, there have been two head-on collisions here within the past two years.
“Cars are forced to play chicken on this block,” he said.
The Department of Transportation presented its plan to accomplish the conversion and the bus route change to CB3 last week.
Currently, both the northbound and southbound Q47 bus runs along 77th Street, between 25th Avenue and 31st Avenue. Under the DOT’s proposal, the northbound bus route would not change, but the southbound bus would no longer be able to turn down 77th Street.
Instead, it would take a left off of 25th Avenue onto 78th Street, where it will travel for one block, then turn west on 30th Avenue. Then it would turn south on 77th Street and west on 31st Avenue, continuing its current route.
The re-route requires parking removal on the eastern half of 80th Street between 25th and 24th Avenues, adjacent to LaGuardia Landing Lights Park.
A new southbound Q47 stop would be added at 25th Avenue and 78th Street on the southwest corner, according to the DOT.
“While you lose some parking for the bus stop on 78th Street, you get it back on 77th Street as the one bus stop is removed,” Vikram Sinha, Borough Planner with the DOT, said.
CB 3 voted unanimously to approve the plan. The DOT now hopes to have it implemented in the summer.
“We implement it in the summer when school is out of session,” Sinha said. “This is less of a peak time and allows for better traffic flow.”
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