The city wants to make a congested industrial street near the Morgan Avenue L station a one-way to ease traffic.
In addition to the heavy foot traffic heading to Roberta’s, the McKibbin Street Lofts, and other new-to-this-millenium institutions, two-way Bogart Street is crammed with vehicles, in large part due to the trucks turning in and out of the Boar’s Head facility that spans a block between Flushing Avenue and Rock Street, and Morgan Avenue and Bogart.
“Trucks are having to navigate to the opposite side of the road and it is not working out,” said Neel Patel, a city engineer who presented the redesign to Community Board 1 last week. “Trucks are having a hard time pulling out and everyone is getting stuck.”
The city plans to remake the road as a one-way heading toward Flushing between Johnson Avenue and Flushing, and to widen all the intersections along the way. White Street and Morgan Avenue are supposed to absorb the traffic heading the other direction.
The redesign eliminates 12 existing parking spaces, but to keep drivers used to storing their cars for free on public streets happy, it converts no-standing areas into 8–10 new parking spaces.
Members of Community Board 1 in Williamsburg originally asked the city to convert the street into a one-way four years ago, but the city declined at the time. Department of Transportation officials refused to say why they changed their minds, other than to say that they reacted to the high amount of conflict between trucks, cars, cyclists, and pedestrians on the narrow road.
One area resident said she is glad about the city’s proposed fix.
“It is constantly a mess here,” said Geraldine Becker, who lives on nearby Harrison Place and often bikes but avoids Bogart Street. “I will be glad when I can ride down the street in peace.”
The city said the change will be complete by the spring.
