Traffic Light To Be Installed Outside New Coney Island Ave. School After Safety Concerns Raised

KENSINGTON, BROOKLYN — The city's Department of Transportation is going to install a traffic light outside of a new school on Coney Island Avenue that parents said was unsafe for kids to walk to and from, the local state representative said.

I.S. 890 and P.S. 889 opened this year on the corner of Coney Island Avenue and Hinckley Place. There is no cross-walk across Coney Island Avenue, so to cross it, kids would have to walk up or down a block or two to of the major thoroughfare lined with garages.

A DOT spokesperson told Patch it is shooting for late January for the light to be installed, along with a crosswalk in the intersection, when kids will finally have a safe way to cross a major street in front of their school, according to Assemblyman Robert Carroll.

"I think this should hopefully work," Carroll, who lobbied for traffic calming measures in the area, told Patch on Wednesday. "We'll be very vigilant keeping on DOT to make sure they install this traffic light as soon as possible and continue to study this problem so that if any other problems arise we can get those fixed as quick as humanly possible."

After hearing from parents concerned about their kids' safety, Carroll hosted a "walk-around" of the school-area with two local police precincts, DOT and the city's School Construction Authority in late September.

DOT conducted a traffic study in the area and decided to add a stop light at the intersection.

Carroll said that he's happy with the solution, even if it came later than he'd like.

"Unfortunately it took a lot of pressure from my office and others to get that going," Carroll said. "I'm glad that we've come to a resolution and hopefully this will work. But we also need to be vigilant too. Because if it's not working we need to immediately go to a plan B."

Carroll said he hopes the saga will be a lesson for future school sitings.

"We're really glad that we’ve come to a response," he said. "We would have like to have seen it quicker, and I do think in the future we need to have better communication with DOT, school construction, and when there's new schools opening up there needs to be more review, more precaution before kids walk in the door."

Photo courtesy Assemblyman Robert Carroll's Office