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DOT to Start Safety Improvements Along Northern Boulevard This Month

Proposed changes to Northern Boulevard (DOT)

April 18, 2019 By Meghan Sackman

The DOT is about to start installing pedestrian islands and ramps between 70th Street and 92nd Street along Northern Boulevard.

Concrete pedestrian islands will be installed at 70th Street, 72nd Street, 74th Street, 77th Street, 81st Street, 85th Street, 87th Street, 90th Street, 91st Street, and 92nd Street, the agency said.

Pedestrian ramps between 70th Street and 92nd Street will be upgraded as well.

These improvements come at a time when the DOT is making a push to redesign the roadway under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2014 Vision Zero Action Plan.

Last October, the DOT held a series of public workshops to gain feedback as to how the boulevard could be made safer. The agency noted at the time that there had been eight pedestrian deaths along the stretch from Jan 1, 2012, to Sept. 15, 2018, between 68th Street and the entrance to the Grand Central Parkway.

The agency is in the midst of coming up with a comprehensive redesign.

An interactive map of Northern Boulevard, available on the DOT’s website, was also created for residents to comment and give tips on which parts of Northern they thought needed to be reevaluated for pedestrian safety purposes.

According to a tweet put out by DOT, the upcoming improvements to Northern Boulevard will help with pedestrian accessibility, create safer pedestrian crossings, and create slower, safer turns. These are just some of the changes that are in the works.

Northern Boulevard Interactive Map (DOT)

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9 Comments

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Tony

I see no mention of dedicated bus lanes in this article, and I doubt they would help. Too often you’ll wait 20 minutes for a #66, and then three of them all come at once.

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1
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Bus

Bus lanes make absolutely no sense if bus stops are ever 2 streets. It’s a joke. But stops should be between every 5 or 10 blocks like it’s everywhere else in the world

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DB

Especially along Northern Blvd. Not too many people live right off the road so they will likely have to walk or transfer to another bus/subway anyway. If you want more people to switch from driving to taking the bus then you need to make them much quicker and extending the distance between stops (as well as the bus lanes) will help with that. Imagine how much less cluttered and noisy Northern Blvd could be…

Reply
Princess Vespa

Remember when Bloomberg said if we voted for him again he would make all crosstown busses free to help keep things moving? Yeh.

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Richard Vagge

Seems to me …
Are all those symbols
of improvement
/ changes New or
just merged with
older changes ?
Secondly ?
Seems a lot of
changes occur just
after 76th street.
… hmmmmmmm ?
Closer to the
Historic District.
…. hmmmmmmm.
Jusssss say’n.
Richie V
The Rabid Activist
of Jackson Hts

1
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Reply
DB

Great. Northern Blvd really needs dedicated bus lanes along the middle of the road – this entire highway is way too congested and the public transportation options are awful. With congestion pricing coming we need to offer more opportunities for people to get into the city along underserved routes.

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