Put More Traffic Controls On 73rd Ave., Lawmakers Plead
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Elected officials in the Fresh Meadows area, dismayed over a history of vehicular accidents along the 73rd Avenue corridor, including a recent fatality, have called upon the city Department of Transportation to immediately install more traffic control devices along the dangerous route.

At the same time, Congressmember Anthony Weiner said that the DOT had announced it will do a study of the corridor and recommend safety improvements.

Early this month, a 47-year-old Queens man was killed and members of his family were seriously injured in a car crash at 73rd Avenue and 181st Street, according to Weiner.

Weiner had previously announced that more than $3.5 million had been secured by him for traffic and pedestrian safety initiatives throughout the city.

City Councilmember David Weprin (D- Hollis) and James Gennaro (D- Fresh Meadows) and state Senator Toby Stavisky (D- Flushing) and Assemblymember Mark Weprin (D- Little Neck) have been urging action on the 73rd Avenue corridor for years. They once again called for action after the DOT wrote to Weiner and stated a survey had been conducted and the department had determined that the area did not qualify for the installation of more traffic safety devices.

Less than two days later, the lawmakers pointed out, a man had been killed "leaving behind a wife without a husband and a son without a father, all due to a car accident that occurred just two blocks away from where the requested traffic device was denied".

"How many people have to die or be seriously injured before the Department of Transportation decides to give us the traffic controlling devices we have been asking for?" Weprin asked. "One lost life should be more than enough to warrant action."

Gennaro stated, "It's important to make sure that tragic accidents like this don't repeat themselves, and the only way to do that is to have more traffic control devices."

Stavisky explained, "Drivers often use 73rd Avenue to avoid the congestion of both the Long Island Expressway and Union Turnpike, 73rd Avenue between Utopia Parkway and Francis Lewis Boulevard, a distance of just over a mile (23 blocks), needs better traffic control devices because vehicles on the north- south streets have to inch their way up to the intersection and proceed with extreme caution. The city has to re-evaluate the entire area."

Assemblymember Weprin noted, "Adding more traffic controlling devices is the only way we can try to ensure the safety of our motorists and pedestrians."