PHOTO: Lindenwood community leaders this week urged the DOT to act fast in improving traffic safety at the intersection of 153rd Avenue and 88th Street. Forum Photo by Greg Zwiers
Following the latest accident at a notorious Lindenwood intersection, civic leaders and elected officials this week publically pressed city Department of Transportation officials to immediately install traffic safety enhancements in the area.
According to police and witness accounts, a driver on Sunday night ignored a stop sign on 153rd Avenue as they made a left-hand turn onto 88th Street, slammed into another vehicle and sped away. No fatalities were reported. No arrests have been made and the investigation was ongoing.
The traffic triangle at the intersection of 153rd Avenue and 88th Street has been a cause for concern for many years. In March, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) sent a letter to the DOT, asking the agency to install more crosswalks at the triangle, calling the intersection “confusing” and difficult to cross for the community’s large senior population.
“Lindenwood families should not have to fear for their lives when crossing the streets,” Goldfeder said. “The Department of Transportation needs to take an aggressive approach to this problem before someone gets hurt.”
On Monday, Goldfeder said the department needs to act fast.
“We have repeatedly called on the Department of Transportation improve this confusing intersection and make the area safer for our families,” Goldfeder said in a statement. “My office has written letters and met on multiple occasions with the city and the Howard Beach-Lindenwood Civic to inspect the triangle and propose changes. Sadly, this most recent reported hit-and-run once again underscores the need to take immediate steps to improve this dangerous situation. I urge DOT Queens Commissioner [Nicole] Garcia to build on our most recent, productive visit to the triangle and work to prevent another accident from happening.”
A DOT spokesperson said the intersection is under a study to determine how safety can be improved following the agency’s meeting with Goldfeder last month. After the study is completed in the next few weeks and DOT determines if any improvements can be made, the spokesperson said it will bring any proposed safety enhancements to the community for approval.
Additionally, DOT indicated that it is in the process of “daylighting”—removing parking spaces adjacent to curbs around an intersection—the area.
Joann Ariola, president of the Howard Beach-Lindenwood Civic, echoed Goldfeder’s call to immediate action.
“Remedying the treacherous conditions that exist at the ‘Triangle’ has long been a top priority for the Civic. Complaints have been lodged and meetings have been held without any safe resolve,” she told The Forum. “This issue must become a priority for the DOT. The measures they have taken thus far have done nothing to protect the motorist or the pedestrian.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
