After five months of waiting, Manhattan Beach is still wondering just how long it takes to complete a traffic study of Oriental Boulevard.
Department of Transportation (DOT) officials informed the neighborhood back in June that a study was being conducted to determine if a new traffic signal at the intersection of Irwin Street and Oriental Boulevard is warranted.
“I don’t want to accuse them of anything, but when we met in June they [DOT] said the study would be complete by end of August…..that came and went,” said local resident and Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association member Edmond Dweck.
When the Bay News contacted the DOT last week, officials said that they were busy crunching some new numbers provided by Kingsborough Community College.
“Where the hell are they?” Community Board 15 Chair Theresa Scavo complained. “This is par for the course for DOT.”
Scavo says that Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri told her during a September 26 budget consultation that the traffic study would be completed “shortly.”
“When is shortly?” Scavo said. “Every day is the same thing.”
This week the DOT told the Bay News that at least one half of the Oriental Boulevard survey has actually already been completed – and as a result, the flashing pedestrian-controlled traffic signal at Ocean Avenue will not be changed.
Previously, the DOT had indicated that the flashing traffic light at Ocean Avenue would not be included in the Oriental Boulevard traffic study.
Meanwhile, traffic counters have been installed around the Irwin Street intersection where a Kingsborough Community College student lost his life in a motorcycle accident earlier this year.
According to the DOT, the 24-hour counters will remain in place for a few more days to gauge the volume of traffic traveling though the intersection.
“They’ve had over three months to study two corners,” Dweck complained. “It can’t be that difficult unless it’s not a priority.”
The Manhattan Beach resident says the DOT is quick to react in other parts of the borough – but not here.
“Change seems to occur in other areas of Brooklyn, whether it’s to drop in a new light on a corner of East 3rd and Avenue T or the change of traffic patterns concerning Avenue W and West 6th Street,” he said. “Manhattan Beach seems to be on the bottom of someone’s list.”
