Queens Boulevard Redesign To Be Completed In November: Mayor

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — The city will begin construction on the long-delayed final phase of the Queens Boulevard redesign project this summer, announced Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday.

The street safety project, which involves redesigning the 1.2-mile stretch of the boulevard between Yellowstone Boulevard and Union Turnpike in Forest Hills, was initially slated for completion in 2019, but stalled multiple times due to the pandemic and local pushback about parking spaces.

At a street-safety-themed segment of his daily briefing on Thursday, Mayor de Blasio said that the Queens Boulevard project still needs “additional state and federal approval” but that he is “very hopeful” that construction will begin in July with completion in November.

“When we put Vision Zero into effect one of the things that I knew we had to do, and it would take time but we would get it done, is address Queens Boulevard once and for all,” said the mayor, noting that the deadly thoroughfare, known among locals as “the boulevard of death,” has become safer, especially for pedestrians, as the initial phases have been completed.

The 7.5-mile revamp of Queens Boulevard, which stretches from Sunnyside to Kew Gardens, began in 2015 as part of the mayor’s Vision Zero initiative to reduce the number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths.

The final phase was first stalled in 2018, right before construction began, because of a disagreement between the mayor and Forest Hills residents, including local City Councilmember Karen Koslowitz, over parking spaces.

The 1.2-mile project in Forest Hills, which will add crosswalks, slip lanes, and other safety improvements along the roadway, will also replace 220 parking spaces in order to introduce bike lanes — which Councilmember Koslowitz and Community Board 6 petitioned against.

In response, the mayor charged the Department of Transportation to formally review Koslowitz's alternative, which she proposed in February 2020: "I want to see both proposals, and I will make the ultimate decision," he said.

When asked at Thursday’s press conference which design project he was going with, the mayor said that he “carefully listened to her [Councilmember Koslowitz], thought about it, and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t workable” — a conclusion that DOT officials arrived at several years ago, reported Patch.

Several months after Koslowitz’s pushback, the project, which at the time had no definitive timeline for completion, was put on “pause” again amid the pandemic, according to then-NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, who has since assumed the national role of Deputy Secretary of Transportation.

On Thursday the mayor seemed to blame that pause on an “issue with federal funding,” adding that “we believe now there’s a much better environment in Washington, and much more support for Vision Zero and bike safety,” celebrating both Trottenberg’s new role, and the Biden Administration’s commitment to Vision Zero nationally.

And while transportation and pedestrian advocates agree that there's a lot to celebrate with the completion of this final phase, many believe it is coming a little too late.

Streetsblog reported that between November 2018 — when the final stretch of the boulevard was initially supposed to be completed — and Thursday, there have been 354 crashes on the Forest Hills stretch of Queens Boulevard, which injured 16 cyclists, 32 pedestrians and 73 motorists.

Danny Harris, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, said he is "very pleased" about the boulevards impending completion, but thinks that "it should never have taken this long in the first place to transform the Boulevard of Death."

He called on the mayor to "bring the same life-saving street designs for Queens Boulevard to corridors across the five boroughs without delay," including extending the project to Hillside Avenue as was initially proposed.

Harris also praised the Families for Safe Street members for their ongoing advocacy, adding "after experiencing so much heartbreak on our streets, they have reason to take a moment and celebrate today.”