Residents Complain of Traffic Jams, Speeding, Lack of Crosswalks
By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
DYKER HEIGHTS — Road rage, as in angry residents wanting a solution to their community’s traffic mess, was at work on Tuesday evening at a meeting in Dyker Heights as Brooklyn’s transportation chief faced a barrage of questions.
In the hot driver’s seat was Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri of the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), facing the music at a packed Dyker Heights Civic Association meeting. Before he spoke, the organization’s leader made it clear that he was not leaving without making a commitment to addressing traffic issues.
“We want an overall study of the community and its traffic problems, to see how traffic can flow better,” said Association President Fran Vella-Marrone, looking at Palmieri. “We sorely need a study, specific to Dyker Heights, to come up with an intelligent plan on traffic here.”
“A major issue in Dyker Heights is the sequence of traffic lights on 13th Avenue, our main commercial strip. They seem to be set to go on and off haphazardly, creating more traffic. On one particular corner, at 75th Street, there are more accidents because of this,” Vella-Marrone told Palmieri, accompanied by Claudette Workman, DOT’s Brooklyn Community Coordinator.
Palmieri responded, “We’ll have someone take a look.” After a brief introduction of his work, he told the audience that he was there to answer questions, not give a speech.
There were questions about 10th Avenue, a largely residential strip which one man said “is becoming more commercial,” creating increased traffic problems. He and another questioner told of accidents at traffic lights at 75th Street (Bay Ridge Avenue) and 76th Street. And the next traffic light south of these is not seen until 81st Street, a long stretch that encourages speeders. “Cars come down there at 40 miles an hour,” the man said.
“In the 24 years I’ve been at the department, I only know of one accident there,” said Palmieri, a comment met with disbelief from the audience. Vella-Marrone questioned the number of accidents of the 76th Street traffic light. “The light at 76th Street is completely useless,” said a resident.
Several people had complaints about the lack of marked crosswalks on 10th, 11th and 12th avenues, where there are no lights or stop signs. On Seventh Avenue, a man said that there are no marked crosswalks across the avenue between 78th and 86th streets. “We need a study of the entire area,” he said.
Fontbonne Hall Academy
Traffic Concerns
Although not in Dyker Heights, the lack of a traffic light outside Fontbonne Hall Academy in Bay Ridge was an issue at the meeting. Questioners noted that several Dyker Heights families have students who attend the all-girls private school on Shore Road at 99th Street.
At the request of the Fontbonne leadership, Community Board 10, serving Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, asked the DOT for a study on the need for a traffic light on Shore Road at 99th Street. The closest traffic lights are at Third Avenue and 91st Street, a span of 10 blocks on the well-traveled Shore Road, and traffic coming south from Third Avenue cannot be seen by students crossing Shore Road. In then past few years two students have been hit, but not seriously.
Early this year, the DOT released its study’s results, saying that there is no need for a traffic light. “We’re not going to wait until a child is killed,” said a resident. Palmieri responded that the process of getting a traffic light “takes up to 18 months. We can put up warning signs.”
Another corner in Bay Ridge of concern is at the busy commercial corner of 86th Street and Fourth Avenue, audience members noted. They are asking whether delayed left and right turn traffic lights could be installed.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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