Queens Chronicle: Help for Flushing, Little Neck areas; DOT to make changes at two sites

Score two for state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) for getting the city Department of Transportation to take action on two problematic locations in Flushing and Little Neck.

The worst of the two is the area around the Flushing Commons construction project at the former municipal parking lot in Downtown Flushing. Avella and others, including the developer, have complained that lack of signage has backed up traffic on 37th and 39th avenues from Union to Main streets and on Union from Roosevelt Avenue to Northern Boulevard.

In addition, there is no pedestrian walkway on part of Union Street, making it dangerous for people who must walk in the street.

Avella has held two press conferences at the site and met with Queens DOT Commissioner Dalila Hall there seeking solutions to the problems.

On Friday, Avella announced that Hall had agreed to amend a stipulation with the developers to require them to provide traffic control agents for the duration of the construction, which is scheduled through 2021.

The developers are TDC Development, a Flushing firm, the Rockefeller Group and AECOM Capital, which are converting the five acres to a $1 billion mixed-use project including housing, retail and office space, and a YMCA recreational facility.

Hall has also agreed to install a temporary pedestrian walkway on Union Street.

“I want to thank Commissioner Hall for her swift action in this matter,” Avella said. “Every day, our city witnesses the tragedy that results from failure to ensure that our pedestrians can walk safely and that our traffic can move efficiently.”

In Little Neck, Hall has OK’d partial resurfacing and repair of Depew Avenue. It is scheduled to be completed in January.

Susan Seinfeld, district manager of Community Board 11, who participated in a recent inspection with the DOT and Avella, said Depew is an old thoroughfare without a base and the surface has deteriorated so much that the dirt underneath is encroaching on the street.

“While a long-term capital project is still needed, this resurfacing will gain make this road usable,” Avella said.

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