Queens Boulevard: Complete Street Campaign Rally

Monday, July 28, 2008

Queens Boulevard: Complete Street Campaign Rally

Last February, 22-year-old Asif Rahman was hit and killed by a truck while riding his bicycle on Queens Boulevard. Though the infamous "Boulevard of Death" is a lot safer than it used to be, it still produces far too many injuries. According to the chart below from crashstat.org before Queens Boulevard underwent some street redesign there were about 150 cyclist and pedestrian injuries. Now, roughly 100 bicyclists and pedestrians are struck on the Boulevard each year. Asif's family, Council member Jim Gennaro, and Transportation Alternatives held a press conference yesterday, calling on New York City government to transform Queens Boulevard into a "complete street," with a physically-protected bike lane and safer pedestrian crossings. Queens Council Members John Liu and Eric Gioia also signed on to a letter urging Mayor Bloomberg to complete Queens Boulevard.

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/Caroline Caroline Samponaro

Thank you to all who came out yesterday to support the Rahman family and to stand with Transportation Alternatives as we launch our campaign to turn Queens Boulevard into a 'complete street' by winning a protected bike lane and pedestrian safety improvements on this vital transportation artery.

As the City works to meet its goals of increasing commuter cyclists by 50% and decreasing traffic fatalities by 50%, a re-design of Queens Boulevard is critical to meeting these goals in Queens. Queens Boulevard is the route people already are, and will continue to use to connect to transit, to walk and to bike because it is the most direct route between neighborhoods in Queens and into and out of Manhattan.

The 'Complete Queens Boulevard' campaign is a large project and it will require a lot of support from the community and elected officials alike. Please contact me if would like to join in this fight:
caroline [at] transalt [dot] org
646-873-6021

Please write to Mayor Bloomberg and ask for a protected bike lane and pedestrian safety improvements on Queens Boulevard to be incorporated into the larger PlaNYC sustainability goals for NYC.
Mayor Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Please contact Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and ask her to stand with the community on this important issue.
Queens Borough President Marshall
120-55 Queens Blvd
Kew Gardens, NY 11424

Please contact your local elected officials and ask them to do the same:
City Council:
http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml
State Assembly: http://www.cmap.nypirg.org/netmaps/MyGovernment/NYC/MyGovernmentNYCMaps.asp?DistType=nyc_ad
State Senate: http://www.senate.state.ny.us/sdlookup.nsf/Public_search?OpenForm

After the City implemented a series of recommended pedestrian safety improvements in early 2000, annual injuries and fatalities on Queens Boulevard dropped from 150/200 annually, to 100 (current number). This proves that street design can help prevent injuries and fatalities, but it also demonstrates the need for more.

Thank you to Councilmember Genarro and his staff for making this press conference happen, and to Councilmembers Gioia and Lui for signing on their support to this initiative as well.

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