Two-Way Protected Bike Lane Slated for 210th Street in Eastern Queens

Image: NYC DOT
Image: NYC DOT

A wide street by Cunningham Park and M.S. 74 in Windsor Park is slated for pedestrian safety improvements and a two-way protected bike lane alongside the park [PDF]. The Queens Community Board 11 transportation committee voted unanimously for the DOT plan last night.

The two streets that form the eastern border of Cunningham Park — 210th Street and Oceania Street, which merge south of M.S. 74 — are wide and rife with speeding and double-parking. There were 25 traffic injuries on the two streets by the park between 2010 and 2014.

To reduce speeding and improve bike access, the project calls for a two-way protected bike lane (with similar dimensions to the Prospect Park West bike lane) next to the park. The protected bike lane will transition to buffered lanes on each side of the street where Oceania crosses over the Long Island Expressway. At the other end of the project, the bike lane will connect to the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway bike trail.

oceania 210 map
Map: NYC DOT

In 2015, a head-on collision between two motorists killed a mother and daughter riding in the backseat of one vehicle and injured four other people. The crash happened right outside M.S. 74, and the project includes major safety improvements around the campus. Oceania Street and 210th Street, which surround the school, would both be designated school slow zones with 20 mph and 15 mph speed limits, respectively.

DOT will also expand pedestrian space around the triangle where the two streets merge, adding crosswalks and stop signs. A small sliver of 210th Street will be converted to one-way northbound traffic flow to simplify what is currently a dangerous convergence of two two-way streets at an unusual angle.

210 oceania merge
The proposed reconfiguration of the intersection of 210th and Oceania. Image: NYC DOT

Two M.S. 74 administrators attended last night’s meeting to make a case for the project, according to John Kelly, who sits on the committee but is not a member of the full board. “Both of them said, ‘We need this done tomorrow, this is super-important for us,'” Kelly said.

The transportation committee endorsed the proposal last night, though most members declined to express strong feelings one way or another, according to Kelly. He said it was not clear whether the plan would get a vote from the full board when it meets next Monday.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

DOT’s Astoria Park Safety Plan Calls for 3 Protected Bike Lanes

|
Last June, a hit-and-run driver killed 21-year-old Betty DiBiaso at the intersection of 19th Street and Ditmars Boulevard, next to Astoria Park. The loss of DiBiaso prompted a neighborhood-wide discussion about the need to improve street safety around one of Queens’ most visited parks, and on Tuesday night DOT showed Queens Community Board 2 its proposals for the area […]

Queens CB 1 Votes for Protected Bike Lanes By Astoria Park

|
By a vote of 33 to 1 last night, Queens Community Board 1 endorsed DOT’s plan for traffic-calming on the streets around Astoria Park. Local electeds requested traffic-calming in the area after a hit-and-run driver killed 21-year-old Betty DiBiaso at the intersection of 19th Street and Ditmars Boulevard, at the park’s northeast corner. The DOT redesign will add two-way protected […]

Eyes on the Street: A Proper Bike Lane on Shore Boulevard

|
The new two-way bike lane on Shore Boulevard in Astoria is rounding into form and just needs some finishing touches from DOT. With the bike lane, which replaced the northbound car lane on Shore Boulevard, pedestrians and cyclists will no longer have to awkwardly share the asphalt path inside the edge of Astoria Park, and crossings between the park […]