DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly
HUNTERS POINT — The city is investing nearly $30 million in infrastructure and traffic safety upgrades for Long Island City, the largest amount to be doled out under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative this year.
The funding — part of the $115 million announced last month for new traffic calming measures across the city — will go to reconstructing and redesigning streets in a large swath of Hunters Point, officials said Monday.
The project will include upgrades to the area’s sewer system, repairing roads and sidewalks, creating more open green spaces and installing upgrades to make streets safer for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists in the rapidly developing neighborhood, the Department of Transportation said.
“We’re going to try and see what we can do to improve these streets around here, make them safer for Vision Zero, and deal with what has obviously become very, very explosive growth as more and more people are calling this neighborhood home,” DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said.
A majority of streets in Hunters Point and Long Island City haven’t been reconstructed since the early 20th century, she added.
“As buildings are going up, obviously the infrastructure is straining,” she said.
The project encompasses a large area of Long Island City south of 44th Drive and north of Borden Avenue, roughly bound by Jackson Avenue to the east and Fifth Street to the west.
The overhaul will cost nearly $40 million, with $30 million from this year’s Vision Zero capital funds and an additional $8.8 million from a previous budget, officials said.
The city held a public meeting in December to get feedback on the plan, and is prioritizing the redesign of several intersections under the project.
These will include Vernon Boulevard and Jackson Avenue, 23rd Street and Jackson Avenue, 21st Street and Jackson Avenue and 44th Drive and Vernon Boulevard, according to City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.
He said the city is currently making a “record investment” in Long Island City: in addition to the street reconstruction, the mayor’s preliminary budget includes funding for three new schools in the neighborhood.
Preliminary designs for the street reconstruction project are expected to be complete this summer, officials said. There was no timeline yet for when construction would start.
