Traffic Relief On The Horizon For Brooklyn And Staten Island Commuters

Golden has been working with Congressman Fossella and others to address the problem, and earlier this month, hosted a town hall meeting with officials from the M.T.A. and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority at which time residents addressed their concerns and frustration on a variety of topics related to the negative impact the project is having on the quality of life of Brooklyn residents effected by the traffic back up.

With a lawsuit pending, filed by Congressman Fossella, Councilman Oddo, Senator Lanza and others, the Metropolitan Transit Authority announced plans to help ease traffic congestion that includes creating a "contra-flow lane" as well as converting a portion of the westbound bus-only lane on the Staten Island Expressway into an HOV lane. At Senator Golden’s meeting with the officials, one of the suggestion was to review the possibility of altering the function of the bus-only HOV lane to ease traffic.

Senator Golden stated, "I commend Congressman Vito Fossella for his leadership and I am proud to be working with him to stand up for the residents and commuters of both Brooklyn and Staten Island. The complaints are now being addressed and changes will be made which is what we have been asking for. Finally, relief is in sight. To simply respond, as previous, that the project will go on through next summer and will be completed sooner than expected, was not the right answer-this, changes and modification of traffic patterns, is the right answer."

Golden continued, "I plan to convene a round table meeting with multiple city and state agencies to review this project and traffic operations in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and throughout Brooklyn and Staten Island early in the New Year. We can not continue to hear the horns honking, we can not continue to see the daily commutes of New Yorkers significantly delayed each day, and we must not allow our quality of life to continue to deteriorate as this project moves forward towards completion."