The New York City Department of Transportation just released its proposal for increased access around Alley Pond Park, along Northern Boulevard and to the Douglaston LIRR Station. This is an excellent plan, and we couldn’t be more excited. If you agree that Queens deserves these infrastructure improvements, please sign our petition here:

https://campaigns.transalt.org/petition/northern-boulevard-and-joe-michaels-greenway-access

DoT’s plan will increase the quality of life of our neighbors. It connects Little Neck, Douglaston, Whitestone and Bay Terrace to a network of Queens parks. Most importantly, the infrastructure is built for families so everyone has safe access to enjoy our community.

We wanted to verify the urgency for these improvements, so we analyzed the data ourselves. We all know about the death of Michael Schenkman, who was killed as he tried to enter Joe Michaels Mile, but we wanted to know if this was an isolated incident. We looked at a larger area than DoT, since improvements on one part of a road often help the surrounding areas. Looking at the NYPD Crash Stats for just the CB11 section of Northern Boulevard from 2014 to today we found crashes that injured 23 cyclists, 82 pedestrians, and 300 motorists. No matter how you cut it, it’s clear that the current design of Northern Boulevard is not safe for anyone.

As an added benefit to DoT’s proposed design, automobile efficiency along Northern Boulevard will be increased. Currently, the traffic bottlenecks are at the intersections, especially Douglaston Parkway. By changing the traffic pattern and signal timing, drivers will see an improvement in service, in some cases decreasing delays by half.

The modern engineering work DoT has put together will help everyone who uses Northern Boulevard and especially our neighbors looking to get to the great parks in Queens. If you’d like to learn more, you can download the full proposal (pdf) from the DoT.

The most powerful thing you can do to make sure this is built is to register to speak in person at the CB11 Public Hearing about this plan. You don’t need to live within CB11 but you will need to to call (718) 225-1054 or email cb11q@nyc.rr.com today to let them know you’d like to share your opinion. Whether you speak or not, stand with us as we try to get this infrastructure passed on June 5th at 7:30 pm.

Middle School 158 (Auditorium)
46-35 Oceania St.
Bayside, NY 11361

Please tell your friends to join us at the meeting and to sign this petition for a better Queens. If you have any questions or want to volunteer to get the word out, we’d love for you to contact us.