Astoria's Ditmars Blvd To Become New 'Open Boulevard': Mayor

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A “supercharged” version of New York City’s Open Streets program is coming to Astoria, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday.

The new “Open Boulevard” on Ditmars Boulevard between 33rd and 36th streets, is one of 10 corridors citywide that will be transformed under this initiative, which remains minimally defined, but is aimed at creating a pedestrian-friendly space in the street, like the city’s existing Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs.

"Open Boulevards takes the concept of Open Streets and supercharges it — multiple blocks in a row filled with restaurants, with performances, with community activities," said Mayor de Blasio. He added that this goes “a step further” than the city’s Open Streets program, which he plans to officially make permanent tomorrow.

The Ditmars Boulevard Open Boulevard will be one of two in the borough, alongside a three-block stretch of Woodside Boulevard from 76th to 78th Street. The mayor did not give an exact date when either of these new boulevard initiatives would officially open.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who has consistently advocated for reimagining street use in the borough, came on the mayor’s press conference to celebrate the Open Boulevards initiative, and call on the mayor to expand this program to areas hardest hit by the pandemic.

He said that many communities “do not enjoy enough open space and green space, and a lot of these communities are representative of communities of color that were hit hardest during this pandemic,” pointing to Jackson Heights and The Rockaways as examples in Queens.

While the Borough President said that opening streets in Astoria and central Queens to greater pedestrian use is “exactly what we need to see in urban communities,” he also pushed the mayor to expand the program in underserved areas, specifically including southeast Queens.

The new boulevard announcement comes amidst the Mayor's street-safety-themed week, dubbed "Streets Week!," which so far has included plans to lower speed limits — including on Astoria and Woodhaven boulevards — and add new busways, bus lanes, and bike lanes in the area.

The mayor's promise to reimagine streets not just for motorists, but for pedestrians and cyclists as well, comes nearly two weeks after an SUV driver who was allegedly speeding down 35th Street near Ditmars Boulevard — the site of the new Open Boulevard — killed a father-of-two who was on his bike in the bike lane.

The NYPD told Patch on Wednesday that there are no updates on this case, and it remains under investigation.