City transportation gurus officially unveiled plans to redesign a dangerous roadway in Gravesend at a May 22 Community Board 13 meeting.
The city Department of Transportation presented the proposal to overhaul a half-mile stretch of Cropsey Avenue, between 26th Avenue and Bay 50th Street, where 114 people have been injured over a five-year period from 2013 to 2017, according to department statistics.
The project would shorten pedestrian crosswalks, formalize traffic lanes, and redesign turning infrastructure throughout the eight-block stretch in an effort to promote better traffic flow and increase safety, according to the department.
Currently, pedestrians travel 90 feet to cross Cropsey Avenue, often with limited crosswalk markings, leading to hazardous conditions on the car-dense roadway. To foster safer foot traffic, the department plan calls for construction of high visibility walkways with a protected island in the middle of the crosswalk area, offering refuge to pedestrians halfway through the wide street.
The plan would also narrow traffic lanes on the avenue by widening the mid-road divider — which currently houses a narrow row of trees and traffic lights — by 10 feet. The expanded divider would create a quasi-sidewalk in the middle of the road, while reducing the car roadway from 40 feet to 35 feet in either direction, which the department hopes will discourage speeding.
The department proposal also calls for elimination of some parking spaces to dedicate proper traffic lanes for cars attempting to turn onto Cropsey Avenue, which they say would better organize and facilitate traffic movement.
Community Board 13 transportation reps will vote on the plan at a June 12 subcommittee meeting, before the full board decides whether to give their blessing on June 26.
If approved, construction would begin in early 2020.
