Speed Bumps To Be Installed On Busy Sunset Park Street

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Drivers on a busy street in Sunset Park are about to be forced to drive a lot slower.

Community Board 7 on Wednesday night unanimously approved the installation of two speed bumps on 44th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, on the south border of Sunset Park.

A study by the city's Department of Transportation found cars on the block speeding through at 42 miles per hour, according to Zak Jasie, the chair of CB7's transportation committee. That's nearly 20 miles per hour over the speed limit on the block.

Cars start down the one-way, west-to-east block from a stop sign and then head toward a so-called "louvre stop light" at the end of it, a light with angled blinders on it so drivers don't see it until they're close and can't confuse it with other signals at night.

The Seventh Avenue side of the block contains a school on one corner, creating unsafe conditions for pedestrians there who face cars driving toward them at high speeds.

Jasie told Patch he wants to "make it safe for my daughter to walk to the park and I feel OK about it," he told Patch.

"The idea of cars going 45 miles per hour down this block, coming from the stop sign, accelerating toward the louvre light, they can’t even see the light in from of them, and there’s a school at the corner, isn’t safe."

The community board has made it a focus to slow cars down all around the park.

"This is the final leg in the circumference of the park that we’ve really taken in the last few years to calm traffic on all sides of the park," Jasie said.

The DOT study came after complaints from residents on the block. After the study, DOT recommended the speed bumps to the community board, which approved them unanimously.

"I'm happy with all traffic calming measures," Jasie said. "I think people drive way too fast in New York City and especially Sunset Park."

Photo by Google Streetview