Queens Tribune
 
....June 22, 5:30 PM
 
 
   
Plan Would Redirect Main, Union Streets

White arrows show new one-way passages in Flushing.

By MICHAEL REHAK

With several large scale development projects moving forward in one of the borough’s busiest transit hubs, downtown Flushing might soon see some of its roadways going in the same direction.

Main Street, one of the area’s most heavily traveled passageways from Sanford Avenue to Northern Boulevard, could soon change to only allowing cars to drive northbound on two lanes, while buses will get one designated lane on each side for their regular routes. Union Street, which runs parallel to Main, would take on strictly southbound car traffic and also keep its bus routes going in each direction.

Other proposed changes include making Sanford Avenue a two-way street, widening sidewalks, adding delivery truck restrictions and taking away nearly 200 metered parking spaces along Main and Union Streets, Roosevelt and Sanford Avenues and Northern Boulevard.

The four-year study was conducted by Eng-Wong, Taub and Associates, in conjunction with the city’s Economic Development Corporation. This week, the two groups met with Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) and members of the Chinese Business Association. It is expected that additional meetings will be held in the coming months, where the community would have further input on the project.

The proposed changes would have a significant impact on the area’s population and commercial growth, which has already begun with the sale and future developments of the five-acre Municipal Lot 1, the former RKO Keith’s Theatre and Con Edison facilities, the new Mets Stadium and many other high rise skeleton frames that can be seen throughout downtown Flushing.

Traffic improvements must accompany these projects, according to Martin Taub, who based his group’s study on the conditions in 2010, when all of these developments are expected to be finalized.

What Taub said residents and passers-by could expect with the proposed traffic improvements is conditions similar to what people are already used to. If the changes aren’t made, however, it could get a lot worse.

“I think many people understand now for many years that Flushing’s traffic congestion and lack of parking have been such serious problems that they impede economic growth,” said Councilman Liu. “The goal here is to allow the community, as a whole, to benefit from these changes.”