This Bushwick Intersection Just Got a Little Less Terrifying

BUSHWICK, NY — The city unveiled a fancy new pedestrian plaza in Friday at the intersection of Wyckoff Avenue, Myrtle Avenue, and Palmetto Street, a busy junction where three traffic deaths and 38 serious traffic injuries occurred between 2014 and 2016, according to city data.

The family of 23-year-old Ella Kottick Bandes, who was struck and killed in the intersection by a bus driver in 2013, joined local elected officials of Brooklyn and Queens for the unveiling Friday.

Bandes was killed on Myrtle Avenue when an MTA bus turned onto the street. The bus driver said upon turning, she checked her rear-view mirror to check to see if she had hit a cab parked near the subway, and when she turned around, she saw Bandes in front of the bus, WNYC reported. She slammed on the breaks, but the bus had already hit Bandes.

The new improvements to the intersection include a pedestrian plaza on Wyckoff Avenue between Gates and Myrtle avenues, the conversion of Wyckoff Avenue to a one-way street with just southbound vehicular traffic between Myrtle Avenue and Madison Street, widening of crosswalks, reconfigured signal timing that allows pedestrians more time to cross the street, and new signs and road markings, according to the DOT.

"These enhancements will do a great deal to improve pedestrian safety along this section of the Queens/Brooklyn border and will help further the city's ongoing Vision Zero initiative to protect all those who use our roadways," said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz in a statement. "I commend Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Department of Transportation for implementing these important safety enhancements."

"The Myrtle/Palmetto/Wyckoff intersection has long been one of the most challenging crossings in our borough, and commuters of all kinds have long deserved a street redesign that prioritizes safety," said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams in a statement. "Thanks to the leadership of the de Blasio administration and the doggedness of community advocates, Bushwick now has a pedestrian plaza we can be proud of, as well as meaningful traffic calming measures that protect our children and families."

"Today we come together to commemorate the advocacy of Ridgewood and Bushwick residents for safer streets at the Myrtle and Wyckoff intersection," said City Councilmember Antonio Reynoso in a statement. "I would like to thank the Dept. of Transportation and Community Board 5 for their diligence in making this project a priority. As a Council Member who fully supports the Vision Zero initiative and is a representative in the borough with the most dangerous corridors/intersections as designated by DOT, I stay firm in my support for all future plans and safety measures."

The L and M trains connect at Myrtle and Wyckoff avenues, along with the B13, B26, B52, B54, Q55, and Q58 buses that connect at Ridgewood Terminal, resulting in a bustling area with thousands of pedestrians each day.

Mike King, a street design expert, observed in 2014 of the intersection for WNYC: "The buses are making these obtuse turns, they're honking at people who are crossing with the light, in the crosswalk, saying, 'Get out of the way because I've gotta get through.' The buses, the drivers they want to get through. But the people coming out of the subway, they want to get home."

In Sept. 2014 pedestrian crossings of the intersection were shortened, and five vehicle turns were banned, reducing the number of legal vehicular movements to from 25 to 20, according to the DOT.

Removing vehicles from Wyckoff Avenue between Myrtle and Gates avenues also has the added benefit of connecting pedestrians transferring between the L/M subways and Ridgewood Terminal buses, the DOT said.

The city's Department of Transportation began construction on the plaza in September. The six-leg intersection had seen two times as many injuries as other intersections on Wyckoff Avenue from 2010 to 2014, according to the DOT.

The communities of Ridgewood and Bushwick worked with representatives of the mayor's Vision Zero pedestrian safety initiative to make the dangerous intersection a priority for the city.

Photo credit: DOT