Queens Boulevard Redesign Work Further Delayed Due To Pandemic

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — The long-delayed final phase of the city's Queens Boulevard redesign is stalled yet again thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg revealed Tuesday.

The project, which involves redesigning the 1.2-mile stretch of the boulevard between Yellowstone Boulevard and Union Turnpike to increase street safety, requires sign-offs from the Federal Highway Administration and the state's Department of Transportation.

That review is now on pause as a result of the outbreak of the new coronavirus, Trottenberg told the City Council during a remote hearing Tuesday on the agency's budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

"There were some things we were trying to wrap up with that project before corona hit with a design firm and state overseers," Trottenberg said, according to Streetsblog New York.

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The process of checks and balances is necessary because the redesign is funded in part by the federal government, a spokesperson for the NYC Department of Transportation told Patch.

"DOT remains committed to the Queens Boulevard redesign, and hopes to be able to implement the project starting later this year," an agency spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.

The redesign is the fourth and final phase of a years-long city project to increase safety on Queens Boulevard, which became known as the "boulevard of death" for the many crashes that happened there.

It stalled after the local community board voted down the plan in June 2018 because it would replace 200-some parking spots with bike lanes.

Since then, City Council Member Karen Koslowitz has been pushing transportation officials to change their redesign plans to preserve the parking spots, even after officials insisted her alternative wasn't possible, Patch exclusively reported in February.

Work on the redesign project was due to resume this summer.

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