Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, local families, community leaders, members of Community Board 2 and students and faculty from P.S. 78 joined the Department of Transportation (DOT) to announce the installation of a four-way stop sign on 5th Street in Long Island City.
On October 12, Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, local families, community leaders, members of Community Board 2, as well as students and faculty from P.S. 78 joined the Department of Transportation (DOT) to announce the installation of a four-way stop sign on 5th Street in Long Island City.
After numerous parents of young children from local pre-schools and P.S. 78, as well as local residents came forward to his office about this issue, Van Bramer contacted the DOT about the need to tame traffic through the addition of a stop sign.
In May, Long Island City residents joined Van Bramer to erect the “People’s Stop Sign” as a symbolic gesture toward the DOT to highlight the potential hazards along 5th Street and the need for the city agency to introduce traffic calming measures along the busy corridor.
For nearly two years, Van Bramer advocated on behalf of local residents requesting that the DOT introduce such measures along 5th Street. As the local area continues to develop, with new apartment complexes, schools, and various other amenities sprouting throughout the neighborhood, the DOT’s street regulations have not kept up with the growing amount of pedestrian traffic.
The new stop signs will be the beginning of what Van Bramer and local residents hope to become part of a coordinated effort to ease vehicular movement along the heavily trafficked corridor in Long Island City. Van Bramer will continue to work with the DOT to implement further measures to increase safety along 5th Street, which may include speed bumps, striping for pedestrian paths, and possibly changing the narrow street from a two-way to a one-way.
“Today is the beginning of what I hope to be the introduction of numerous traffic calming measures in Long Island City,” Van Bramer said. “With these stop signs this heavily trafficked corridor will help prevent any further accidents from happening, keeping our kids safe from harm. I thank the Department of Transportation for working with us on this issue. I look forward to continuing a dialogue with DOT that will produce safer streets in Long Island City and throughout my district.”
