Call For Investigation In Qns Plaza Crashes
By DOMENICK RAFTER
In the wake of two similar disastrous car accidents on the Queens side of the Queensboro Bridge, local officials are asking the city to change the traffic pattern that they say has caused two accidents that killed two and destroyed a business - twice.
In the span of two weeks, two Volkswagen Jettas crashed into a store on Queens Plaza South and Crescent Street. Both cars collided with the store after jumping the curb exiting the Queens-bound outer roadway of the Queensboro Bridge. Both accidents occurred at about 4 a.m., when the normally-congested bridge is nearly empty. Tragically, both drivers each lost an arm.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) joined State Sen. Mike Gianaris (D-Astoria), Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan (D-Sunnyside), Community Board 2 Chair Joe Conley, local residents and business owners at the site of the crashes to announce they had drafted a letter to Queens Dept. of Transportation Commissioner Maura McCarthy demanding that they investigate factors besides speed that may have contributed to the eerily similar accidents.
In response, the DOT said both cars hit a barricade on the bridge prior to the crash, which they say is evidence the pattern on the street had nothing to do with the accidents.
Gianaris said DOT has shrugged off the problem, noting that it has not changed traffic patterns on the bridge since 2007, but he said the problem was not on the bridge, but with recently placed orange cones on Queens Plaza directing traffic from the bridge to the south side of the Plaza at Crescent Street. The cones make the turn onto the plaza from the bridge sharper and angles traffic toward the stores. The old lines in the street are still painted, which Gianaris said confused drivers.
"DOT needs to stop saying they have nothing to do with this," he said. "When there's been a series of accidents like this, accept responsibility."
Van Bramer noted that when the DOT put up the cones, they didn't give anyone notice.
"People are creatures of habit," Van Bramer said, adding that people who used the bridge could be surprised by a sudden, unexpected change, which could lead to accidents.
The letter urges DOT to review all off-ramps on the Queensboro Bridge for safety. The Queens-bound outer roadway, which was originally built to service trollies, is especially perilous. The route, which is used by cars accessing the bridge from First Avenue in Manhattan, is mostly straight and is a single lane. Cars often speed down the stretch on the Queens side, forcing them to stop suddenly before the end of the bridge at Crescent Street.
At the press conference, Van Bramer noted that the DOT had installed a jersey barrier along the curb in front of the store that was twice hit, and placed a traffic cop on the site that specific day.
"The very fact that we have to put a jersey barrier to protect pedestrians is evidence that this is unsafe," he said.
Reach Reporter Domenick Rafter at drafter@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 125.