Queens Road Sheds 'Boulevard Of Death' Reputation

QUEENS, NY -- A major Queens roadway is shedding its reputation as a pedestrian and bicyclist bloodbath that once earned it a nickname as New York City's "Boulevard of Death," the New York Times Reported.

Queens Boulevard has for years been considered one of the city's most dangerous roadways, racking up a death toll of 18 pedestrians at the height of its reputation in 1997, according to the Times. Since 1990, 186 people have been killed along the 7.5-mile thoroughfare - 138 of them were pedestrians.

But a New York Times story published Dec. 3 suggests the tides are changing: Since 2014, the report says, not a single pedestrian or cyclist has been killed along the roadway that cuts from the Queensboro Bridge to Jamaica.

“The Boulevard of Death has become the Boulevard of Life,” NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio told the Times. “We’ve turned the corner.”

Queens Boulevard has become a success symbol for De Blasio's Vision Zero campaign to eliminate traffic deaths citywide, which includes redesigning streets with safety improvements and adding more time to crosswalk signals for pedestrians to walk, the Times reported.

The thoroughfare's overhaul began in the late 1990s, when fast rising death tolls spurred city transportation officials, advocates and concerned locals to take action, the Times wrote.

The city adjusted the road's walk signals to allow pedestrians 60 seconds to cross, up from the 32-50 seconds they had before. Curbs were broadened to shorten crossings, with medians widened and protective barriers built around them. More crosswalks and fencing along the entire boulevard were even added to keep pedestrians from jaywalking, the Times reported. The road was also narrowed down from 12 lanes to 10 to slow traffic, and cameras were installed to catch drivers running red lights.

None of the solutions lated. Traffic deaths along Queens Boulevard did see an initial decline, only to spike back up again in 2013, The Times reported. A total of eight were killed along the roadway that year, six of which were pedestrians.

After taking office in 214, de Blasio lowered the speed limit on Queens Boulevard from 30 to 25 miles per hour against the wishes of city traffic engineers who wanted to keep the higher speed limits on some of the road's major arteries, the Times wrote.

Since then, $4 million has been invested into a safety overhaul of the boulevard, including redesigned car lanes, more crosswalks and the addition of bike lanes that remain controversial among some Queens neighborhoods, according to the Times. Cameras were also added near two schools to catch speeding drivers.

Despite the success of Queens Boulevard, not all roadways are seeing as much success from the campaign. While the city's overall traffic crash deaths fell to 231 in 2016, those that were pedestrian deaths rose from 139 in 2015 to 148, the Times reported. But this year those numbers have declined, with only 198 citywide traffic deaths - 92 of which were pedestrians - reported as of Nov. 21, according to the Times.

Caroline Samponaro, deputy director of the advocacy group, Transportation Alternatives, told the times she wanted to see the same changes to Queens Boulevard applied to other hectic roadways throughout the city that desperately need it.

"Their immediate fix must happen as soon as possible and on a clear public timeline if Vision Zero is to be realized," Samponaro told the Times. "This will mean making the changes that have happened on Queens Boulevard the norm, not the exception."

Lead image via Shutterstock.