By Forum Staff
The Cityline Ozone Park Civilian Patrol on Thursday called on the City Department of Transportation and its contractors to improve planning, communication, and coordination following last week’s roadway milling along Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevard that caused considerable traffic disruptions and safety concerns in a section of the borough already fraught with them.
While the milling schedule may have been listed online, the message did not reach the drivers, transit operators, or residents most affected, according to COPCP Communications Director Daniel Coffaro Hill. On Oct. 22, COPCP volunteers observed Woodhaven Boulevard southbound completely closed at Rockaway Boulevard with no advance signage or traffic control measures in place. Vehicles were forced into residential streets, and even MTA buses were caught in gridlock, some with hazard lights on clearly lost, navigating side streets trying to find a route through.
Photo Courtesy of Google
Traffic was backed up on Woodhaven Boulevard all the way to Jamaica Avenue.
Traffic was backed up on Woodhaven Boulevard all the way to Jamaica Avenue. On the way back from assisting a stranded driver, COPCP members saw an even more dangerous situation unfolding as cars coming off South Conduit Avenue were driving into oncoming northbound traffic on Cross Bay Boulevard, while vehicles exiting the Belt Parkway were trapped, unable to turn because milling was taking place directly on the road they needed to access.
“Our volunteers were on the ground last [Wednesday] night, and what we saw was chaos,” Hill said. “We understand that a private contractor performs the milling, but DOT needs to be present. This was a major closure, and there was no visible DOT oversight on-site. Historically, DOT has either coned off one lane on the northbound side to allow southbound traffic to continue or milled three lanes at a time while leaving one open, then switched sides. This time, everything was shut down—it was crazy.”
Hill added that the civilian patrol supports “infrastructure work, but it has to be done with oversight and common sense.”
