Astoria, Transportation
Oct 25, 2016
Changes Are Coming to Hoyt Avenue North
DOT is bringing changes to Hoyt Avenue North which will benefit pedestrians and cyclists.
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DOT is bringing changes to Hoyt Avenue North which will benefit pedestrians and cyclists.
by Meg Cotner
Well, the headline says it all—DOT is making some changes to Hoyt Avenue North. This is the road that runs along the north side of the highway/Triboro Bridge as it makes its way through the neighborhood. It’s not always the safest road, at times with drivers speeding through toward Astoria Park.
At a past community workshop led by the DOT (that was the one at Bohemian Hall that had, among other things, a memorable fight about semantics), Astoria residents marked problem spots on maps, with the hope that changes would be implemented to create a safer environment around Astoria Park. These changes are a result of that meeting.
Here’s what we can expect DOT to do along Hoyt Ave. North between 28th and 19th Streets:
- Install a two-way parking protected bicycle path along the south curb, this project will move the existing bike lane to the new curbside two-way path
- Improve pedestrian and bicycle connections between the RFK bridge pedestrian path and Astoria Park
- Enhance public/pedestrian/cyclist access to park facilities along Hoyt Ave. North
- Install planted concrete pedestrian refuge islands to provide safer and shorter crossings
As an aside, when I attended that meeting, one of my big concerns was how dangerous the intersection of 19th Street and 23rd Avenue is for pedestrians. Here’s hoping they do some sort of traffic calming there at some point, too.
Changes are slated to start happening at the end of October. So tell us—are you looking forward to these changes? Do they make sense to you? How do you think the area will be improved—or not—by them? Leave us a comment!
We live on 27th across from this debacle. I am an avid cyclist; this new bike lane is
completely useless. Because it compresses the traffic by 2 lanes, it is far more
dangerous for us as pedestrians as well. It makes the area far more hectic for
drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Let’s have another public meeting, and get rid of
this poorly conceived and executed mess………….
As a resident of Astoria for almost 40 years, I walk through this town, I ride my bicycle through this town and I drive a car when I have to leave this town to go to work.. Driving back to my beloved home, I find the new curbing along Hoyt Avenue North maddening and dangerous.. Now when I exit off the Grand Central Parkway and drive to my home on Crescent Street , not only do I have to compete with 18-wheelers merging left to get onto the bridge when I am merging right, I now have to cross 4 lanes of traffic before I travel back three lanes to make a left turn onto Crescent Street. It does not benefit me to make the first left onto 27th Street.
If the goal is to “calm traffic” the traffic light at 31st Street has to be staggered on the north side of the street just as it is on the south side of the street. Drivers coming off the Grand Central should get a green light before the trucks and other cars already on the north-most side of the intersection.
The “curbing” is ridiculous, horrible. Expect it to be even more narrow when people are trying to parallel park. This is only protecting cyclists, with drivers obviously being, at most, an afterthought.
Maybe someone should look into the fact that bicyclists have no regard for stop signs, pedestrians or cars. We can put the blame on motorists all we want but the truth is, it is very rare that you see a bicyclist stop for anyone or anything.
DOT makes the changes – but not one of them live or drive here. They just create havoc, in my opinion. The 20th Avenue project is just an accident waiting to happen, same will be for the Hoyt Ave. project.
These changes are the result of your fellow Astorians – neighbors that live in the immediate area – giving feedback to DOT at a PUBLIC MEETING. I know because I was at the meeting where DOT came to the community and asked for feedback. Most of the people in the room were avid users of Astoria Park and as I said, live nearby. And compromises were made, too. You are welcome to consider it “havoc” but the hope is that these changes will make it safer for ALL Astorians, which include pedestrians and cyclists.
They also finished repaving the park on Hoyt Ave North… Can’t call it an improvement, just a new surface.