DOT Needs More Resources From City Hall to Fix Streets Like Deadly Liberty Ave. in Queens

Six people have died in crashes on Liberty Avenue since 2009. DOT noted hazardous conditions for walking on Liberty in 2015, but didn’t prescribe safety upgrades.

Liberty Avenue intersection where a motorist killed Toolia Rambarose. Image: Google Maps
Liberty Avenue intersection where a motorist killed Toolia Rambarose. Image: Google Maps

A motorist was arrested last week after fatally striking a senior in a crosswalk on Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill. With no fewer than six fatal crashes in the last nine years, Liberty is an example of a street that DOT acknowledges is dangerous, but needs additional resources from Mayor de Blasio to fix.

At around 6:14 p.m. on February 7, 70-year-old Toolia Rambarose was crossing Liberty when Kazim Mohammed hit her with a Ford van as he turned left from 135th Street, according to Patch and the Daily News.

Mohammed, 47, was charged with a misdemeanor for violating the victim’s right of way.

Liberty Avenue runs eight miles between Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brooklyn and Farmers Boulevard in Queens. It is served by the A train and the Q83 and Q112 bus lines.

In addition to Rambarose, motorists have killed four people walking on Liberty Avenue since 2009, according to city data. The victims include Rohan Singh, struck by a hit-and-run driver in 2012, and an unnamed male pedestrian killed in 2014. A motor vehicle occupant died in a crash on Liberty in 2013.

DOT noted hazardous conditions for walking on Liberty in the agency’s 2015 Queens pedestrian safety action plan. “Wide streets such as Hillside and Liberty Avenues accommodate heavy vehicular volumes and pose dangers to pedestrians due to especially long crossing distances and high-speed traffic,” read the report.

However, the action plan did not designate Liberty, or any of its intersections, for safety upgrades, presumably because fewer pedestrians are killed and seriously injured per mile on Liberty than on 47 other Queens streets that were singled out for improvements.

After years of pressure from safety advocates, in 2017 Mayor de Blasio announced a significant funding boost for street redesigns. But the vast majority of that funding is designated for capital projects, which means the money won’t go that far. If de Blasio wants to improve safety on every street that DOT knows is dangerous, he’ll need to budget for more redesigns made with low-cost materials that can cover many miles.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Eyes on the Street: Reading in Ozone Park’s New Plaza

By Stephen Miller |
The intersection of Liberty Avenue and 101st Avenue sits on the border of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, and Ozone Park, Queens. A few blocks from the A train and surrounded by small businesses, it’s a natural hub for the neighborhood, but the road configuration gave over large areas of the angled intersection to cars. Last year, […]

DOT Overrides CB 10, Advances E. Tremont Safety Project After Cyclist Death

By Brad Aaron |
DOT will implement a road diet on the stretch of East Tremont Avenue where a motorist killed cyclist Giovanni Nin in June. Last year DOT had dropped the project in response to a hostile reception from Bronx Community Board 10. In early 2015, DOT proposed a number of improvements for East Tremont between Williamsbridge Road and Bruckner Boulevard [PDF]. The plan would reduce […]

TA: De Blasio Must Undo Construction Budget Cuts to Fix Dangerous Streets

By Stephen Miller |
Arterial streets — the city’s big, busy, highway-like roadways — cover just 15 percent of the New York City street network but account for nearly 60 percent of all pedestrian fatalities. The city will have to overhaul these streets to achieve Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero goals. And to make those changes, the city must reverse cuts to its roadway reconstruction budget, according to a new report […]