Queens Chronicle: Avella blames DOT for traffic dangers

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and community leaders are pressing the Department of Transportation to improve traffic safety in Downtown Flushing.

A small group of representatives of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce, the Korean-American Grocers Association of New York and South Asian communities joined Avella Tuesday morning at the busy corner of Union Street and 39th Avenue to highlight the area’s traffic chaos.

They were directly across from the five-acre construction site transforming Municipal Parking Lot 1 into Flushing Commons.

The group says traffic has gradually worsened as more residents and businesses have moved into the neighborhood. But, the $1 billion project, which broke ground in June after years of delays, exacerbated issues, causing pedestrian confusion and compromising safety since the DOT allowed the construction company to remove a traffic lane and most of the sidewalk access around the site, which is bordered by Union and 138th streets and 37th and 39th avenues.

“It’s too dangerous,” Chaudhry Anwar, a community advocate for South Asian residents, said. “They have to make a route so people can cross easily, for safety.”

He said around 2 p.m. on weekdays, students from nearby Flushing High School clog the narrower opposite street, which still has a sidewalk, or walk into the street.

“This is too dangerous for students,” Anwar said. “I’ve never seen anything in my life like this.”

He said there should be a covered route for pedestrians to cross safely. He’s also worried about senior citizens navigating the area.

“They should fix it before something happens,” Aslam Hossain, a Jamaica resident and another advocate for the South Asian community, said. “If something happens, you can never bring it back, if somebody gets hit or if somebody dies.”

It wasn’t rush hour, yet cars, buses and construction vehicles struggled to turn from 39th Avenue onto Union Street.

Avella highlighted how the Q13, Q16 and Q28 buses often get stuck. He said emergency vehicles also get blocked. He noted the construction and packed traffic make drivers more aggressive, something he recently witnessed himself while driving past.

“The traffic pattern cannot handle this traffic,” Avella said. “So, DOT has to start working with people, and I don’t think they are. Now you’ve got a dangerous situation here.”

As the Flushing Commons Project won’t be finished for years — Phase 1 is scheduled for completion in 2017 and Phase 2 in 2021, according to the developer — Avella and residents want the DOT to put modified traffic patterns in place, perhaps by utilizing crossing guards, as soon as possible.

“It’s almost like DOT knows it’s a problem and hopes it goes away,” Avella said. “Something has to be done about the way they’re doing the construction and affecting the traffic pattern here. You just can’t leave this the way it is.”

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