Brooklyn leaders renew push for Third Avenue safety redesign in Sunset Park

Lawmakers and community leaders are renewing calls for safety improvements along Third Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. They are citing dangerous traffic conditions and years of delays in redesigning the busy corridor.

Ángela Azzolino, a lifelong area resident, said crossing the street remains daunting decades after she was forbidden from crossing it as a child. There is an ever-present blaring of angry horns echoing under the overpass.

"Imagine a small child. Imagine an elderly person with a cane or someone who's less able," she said.

Azzolino said pedestrians can become stranded on the median when traffic signals do not provide enough time to cross all eight lanes.

"Now they're huddled in the middle of that island," she said.

The renewed push follows a fatal hit-and-run last month that killed a nurse who was home from work at 55th Street and Third Avenue.

In response, elected officials sent an open letter to Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn, urging the agency to treat safety along the corridor as an emergency.

"In the last ten years, we've lost about 17 people to traffic deaths on this corridor alone," said state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who collaborated with colleagues to write the letter. "We have two schools in this building here. You have freight traffic. You have local traffic. You have the highway entrance. It's very chaotic."

The DOT introduced several redesign ideas in 2023 under former Mayor Eric Adams, but the plans did not advance. Local leaders are now hoping to revive the effort under the new administration.

Brooklyn Community Board 7 Transportation Chair Katie Walsh said current conditions make further delays unacceptable.

"People treat Third Avenue like the highway that's above it," she said. "So they speed through the neighborhood. They make quick turns. We have oversized vehicles that are not legal and not made to be on Third Avenue."

A DOT spokesperson said in a statement, in part, "No loss of life is acceptable on our streets, and that is why the Mamdani Administration is committed to advancing a redesign of Brooklyn's Third Avenue."

The agency said more information about the redesign would be available in the coming weeks.

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