DOT To Invest $100 Million To Make Queens Boulevard Safer
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There are big plans to make Queens Boulevard -- one of the city's most dangerous corridors -- safer with wider medians, increased pedestrian space and protected bike lanes.
Work will first begin on a 1.3-mile stretch of Queens Boulevard from Roosevelt Avenue to 73rd Street, where six people have been killed and many others injured in traffic incidents between 2009 and 2013.
Between 2003 and 2013, the 7-mile corridor saw 38 traffic fatalities and 448 severe injuries, according to the Department of Transportation.
"After decades of crashes, many of them fatal, this corridor has been re-imagined and will be redesigned to become a safer, greener, and more attractive corridor for residents and businesses, suitable to traverse through the World's Borough," said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.
The DOT plans to spend $100 million to make the boulevard safer.
Locals said they'll believe it when they see it.
"The city says a lot of things, you know, we're always waiting," one man told 1010 WINS' John Montone.
Another man said stricter enforcement of the 25 mile per hour speed limit could also help improve safety.
"They keep talking about that new speed limit rule, but there's no such thing," he said.