Brighton Beach residents are rejecting suggestions that Corbin Place could be turned into a one-way street, saying it would make driving on the road complicated and unsafe.
Corbin Place connects two heavily used roadways and if the street was made one-way, one longtime local said residents would have to detour through several side streets to reach either Brighton Beach Avenue or Cass Place, which would waste time and fuel.
“It would mean I would hit three lights on the way,” said Mark Shor, who has lived on Corbin Place for 29 years. “With all the stopping, it would use extra gas.”
There are no plans as yet to make Corbin Place one-way, but Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D–Sheepshead Bay) said the suggestion was prompted by residents’ complaints about cars speeding on the narrow street between the two thoroughfares.
Deutsch said he wants the Department of Transportation to perform a traffic study and he is asking for residents’ feedback on the idea.
“That area got a lot of complaints — it is not a good intersection,” said Deutsch. “I try to get input from the people living there.”
The Department of Transportation said it is considering a study for Corbin Place between Cass Place and Brighton Beach Avenue to address safety concerns. But Shor said a one-way street will only increase the speeding problems on the strip because it will be easier for cars to pass each other.
“With a one-way street, it would make it more reckless,” said Shor.
He said residents are also wondering if the one-way is being floated as an accommodation for a controversial senior citizens’ facility that is being built on Corbin Place. More than 50 of the street’s residents are protesting the construction because they say it will increase traffic congestion.
Shor said he was initially intrigued when he heard Corbin Place might become a one-way, but after he thought about the long-term effects it could have, he said he agrees with his neighbors that the change would harm — not help — the community.
“The people I have spoken to about it don’t think it is a good idea,” he said. “I don’t see that having it one-way will add anything to it — it’ll just make it more difficult.”
