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. Share this Scoop by Meg Cotner total shares! Twitter Facebook Email Print DOT is bringing changes to Hoyt Avenue North which will benefit pedestrians and cyclists. by Meg Cotner Share this Scoop total shares! Twitter Facebook Email Print Related scoops The 5th Annual Welling Court Mural Project Is Here June 14 Astoria Citi Bike Community Planning Sessions Are Coming #CLOSERikers Rally and March This Saturday 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! Twitter Facebook Email Print astoria parkDOTHoyt Avenue NorthPedestriansafety About Meg Cotner Meg Cotner was trained as a harpsichordist and now works as a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of "Food Lovers' Guide to Queens," and is a skilled and avid home cook, baker, and preserver. Related scoops The 5th Annual Welling Court Mural Project Is Here June 14 Astoria Citi Bike Community Planning Sessions Are Coming #CLOSERikers Rally and March This Saturday 7 Comments john H Beyer February 25th, 2017 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…………. Reply Tess Monte November 12th, 2016 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. Reply Zack November 23rd, 2016 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. Reply John November 4th, 2016 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. Reply kiki fieger October 27th, 2016 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. Reply Meg Cotner October 28th, 2016 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. Reply david October 25th, 2016 They also finished repaving the park on Hoyt Ave North… Can’t call it an improvement, just a new surface. Reply Leave a Reply to Tess Monte Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. 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john H Beyer February 25th, 2017 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…………. Reply
Tess Monte November 12th, 2016 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. Reply
Zack November 23rd, 2016 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. Reply
John November 4th, 2016 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. Reply
kiki fieger October 27th, 2016 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. Reply
Meg Cotner October 28th, 2016 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. Reply
david October 25th, 2016 They also finished repaving the park on Hoyt Ave North… Can’t call it an improvement, just a new surface. Reply