Board 5 Hears DOT Plans For Queens Center Mall
By Richard Gentilviso

Photo Vinny DuPre For residents living in the vicinity of the mall, above, a one-way pairing of 57th and 59th Avenues by the City Department of Transportation last September, has led only to more traffic congestion.

As if there weren’t enough problems along Queens Boulevard, the impending addition of 569,000 square feet of retail space at the Queens Center Mall, a proposed 18-screen, 4,200-seat multiplex movie theater and a new complex of retail stores and restaurants at the former Stern’s site, loomed large during the March meeting of the Queens Borough cabinet. Calling the potential combined impact on traffic, parking and pedestrians very serious, Borough President Claire Shulman declared, "We need to get dramatic about this."

Proposals ranging from acquiring nearby truck parking lots, using jitneys, and even encouraging motorists to park their cars in a lot at 63rd Avenue and ride the train one stop to Queens Center Mall were bandied about. "In order to solve this problem [traffic congestion], we can’t do traditional stuff," Shulman said, adding the goal was to "cut down on some traffic, not customers."

For residents living in the vicinity of the mall, a one-way pairing of 57th and 59th Avenues by the City Department of Transportation last September, has led only to more traffic congestion. Intended to make improvements, the measure has caused other problems, admitted Queens DOT Commissioner Joseph Cannisi.

Cannisi said illegal parking on Junction Boulevard and on Hoffman Drive, behind St. John’s Hospital near the Woodhaven Boulevard subway stop, forced DOT to make changes in on-street parking restrictions, add new signs and request stepped-up enforcement by police.

Rose Renda-Rothschild, district manager for Community Board 4, encompassing Corona, Corona Heights and Elmhurst told Cannissi trucks were using residential Seabury Street to get to the westbound Long Island Expressway as a result of the northbound one-way on 57th Avenue. "Since when did we become a major highway?" residents wrote in a letter to her, Renda-Rothschild said.

Cannisi explained that trucks using Seabury Street to get to the LIE were following private cars and said the number of trucks taking the route was not high, although he acknowledged even a few trucks would be disturbing to residents. "Those trucks should be using the [Queens Boulevard] service road," he said.

In an overview of traffic plans and enforcement measures around the Queens Center Mall, both Cannisi and Deputy Inspector Anthony Mullen, commanding officer of the 110th Police Precinct in Elmhurst, said recent changes in traffic engineering and enforcement were related to the public outcry at the number of pedestrian deaths, 73 in seven years, in traffic accidents on Queens Boulevard.

However, Cannisi said, one side effect of the change to allow 60-second crossing times along two miles of Queens Boulevard from 63rd to 83rd Avenues has been a backup of left-turn traffic. Mullen said one of his first initiatives on taking command of the 110th in January was to institute a traffic unit, headed by Sergeant Nick Morales. Some 5,000 summonses have been issued at the intersection of Junction and Queens Boulevards alone.

Renda-Rothschild asked that illegally parked for-hire vehicles be policed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and called for a borough-wide traffic unit because too many officers from the 110th Precinct were on traffic duty at Queens Boulevard. The 108th and 112th Precincts bound Queens Boulevard as well.

Deputy Borough President Peter Magnani described the holiday season as "most trying" and suggested added back-up of Traffic Enforcement Agents to help during November and December.

Kathleen Reilly, district manager for Community Board 6 in Rego Park and Forest Hills, was worried that emergency vehicles could have a very difficult time getting through the traffic during the holidays. Mullen said he expected more agents at fixed posts next year. "Hopefully, we’ll have a lot better traffic flow," he said.

The Queens Center Mall expansion will include a new seven-story public parking garage on the site of the current Municipal Parking Lot number one. In addition, the multiplex movie theater will have 600 parking spaces on the current site of Municipal Parking Lot number two. More parking will also be added to the Stern’s redevelopment, which will be called Queens Place.

But there is already very heavy automobile, truck and bus traffic in the area, and Shulman returned to considering the proposals other than more traffic enforcement. "It’s a one-stop ride on the train to the mall," Shulman said of parking at 63rd Avenue. Saying it would be quicker and would alleviate some traffic, "If we could figure out a way to educate the public." Although the borough president liked the jitney proposal too, she wondered, "If we could find a good location for them." Shulman said the cabinet would consider the matter again and asked all in attendance to come back next month with some new possible solutions, ones that we’re not thinking about today.

The Queens Boulevard Retail Working Group (QBRWG), created by Shulman, also meets to address concerns regarding commercial projects in the Queens Center Mall area. A transportation study conducted by the Department of City Planning (DCP) for the QBRWG during the ULURP public review process in 1999 then made a number of vehicular and pedestrian recommendations to improve conditions.

Twenty-four intersections were analyzed at Friday and Saturday evening peak times under three scenarios, existing, build and future improved conditions. Recommendations made by the DCP were:

•Widen 92nd Street between the LIE off-ramp and 59th Avenue.

•Wide the LIE off-ramp at 92nd Street to two moving lanes.

•Create a connection between Queens Boulevard westbound service road and 92nd Street.

•Install a new traffic signal at the intersection of 92nd Street and the LIE off-ramp that is coordinated with the surrounding traffic signals.

•Add a fourth plot of land on the eastbound Queens Boulevard main roadway between 56th Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

•Create a one-way pair operation on 59th and 57th Avenues.

•Make necessary signal timing modifications.

The study concluded levels of service and safety in the area under existing conditions could be improved even with the new development if the above recommendations were implemented. However, to date only the one-way pair on 57th and 59th Avenues is in operation.

Of the traffic problems, Shulman said, "We are suffering from riches. The Queens Center Mall makes more money per square foot than any other mall in the United States." But in a Feb. 27 Newsday Viewpoint article, Nick Pennachio, a member of Board 4 who lives in South Elmhurst wrote, "Our politicians have sacrificed Elmhurst to the developers."