Sunset Park's Streets Are Good In The East, Bad In The West, City Says

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Just over 80 percent of the streets in eastern Sunset Park are in good condition, according to Department of Transportation (DOT) data analyzed by the city's Independent Budget Office (IBO). By contrast, just over 66 percent of the streets in western Sunset Park are good, the IBO said.

Each year, the DOT assesses the quality of at least 50 percent of the city's streets, though it often covers about 90 percent of roadways, according to a DOT spokeswoman.

DOT staffers take a look at a variety of street qualities, such as their level of "cracking, patching, surface peeling, raveling (wearing away) or rutting," the spokeswoman explained.

At that point, a ranking is provided. Streets deemed to be in "good" condition have less than 5 percent of their surface area classified as being "distressed," the spokeswoman explained. "Fair" streets are between 5 and 50 percent distressed, while "poor" streets are more than 50 percent distressed.

The DOT uses the results of its surveys to help determine how to prioritize street repaving, according to the spokeswoman.

So, how does Sunset Park stack up?

According to a visualization of the DOT's data from 2014 and 2015 put together by the IBO, just over 66 percent of the neighborhood's streets west of 5th Avenue are in "good" condition, while about 32 percent are "fair" and 1.3 percent are "poor." Overall, the area ranked 44th out of 50 Brooklyn areas.

By contrast, just over 80 percent of Sunset Park's streets east of 5th Avenue are in "good" condition, the IBO said, while about 19 percent are "fair" and none are "poor." The area came in 11th out of 50 areas in the Brooklyn rankings.

Borough-wide, the city concluded that just over 75 percent of Brooklyn's streets are in good condition. Fort Greene had the best streets in the city, with nearly 90 percent ranked as good, while Seagate-Coney Island had the city's worst streets, with just 35 percent qualifying as good.

Additional Patch coverage of the IBO's work, including a complete ranking of the city's neighborhoods, is available here.

Pictured at top: the intersection of 5th Avenue and 39th Street. Image via Google Maps.