They made the right decision for this left lane!
The city will finally install a much-needed new left-turning signal at an infamous Marine Park intersection early next year. Residents have been begging the Department of Transportation for years to put in a left-turn signal at Gerritsen Avenue and Avenue U to prevent traffic pileups and reckless drivers, so the whole neighborhood is clapping their hands over the long-awaited news, said Marine Parker Sheila Hyland.
“I’m really happy, I think it will be a lot safer,” said Hyland. “It’s very dangerous.”
Currently, drivers have to wait until there is a break in oncoming traffic or for several light changes before they are able to turn left onto Avenue U from Gerritsen Avenue — and the wait can get so long that impatient motorists often gun it to cut across oncoming traffic to hang the left, making the intersection extremely dangerous — especially for pedestrians.
Speedsters have struck and injured a total of 46 pedestrians since 2012, according to city data.
And the area is always highly congested because of the nearby Key Foods grocery store, and since Knapp Street terminates right on the busy Gerritsen Avenue thoroughfare.
But the new signal — which will only be activated when a car’s front wheels touches a high-tech sensor under the pavement in the left-turn lane — will finally make things a lot safer for both motorists and pedestrians, said Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein (D–Marine Park), who pressured the city for nearly 25 for the traffic calming measure.
“There is no doubt, working together, we’ve increased safety and have prevented what were sure to be devastating and fatal accidents,” said Weinstein, who worked with Councilman Alan Maisel (D–Marine Park) to get the new signal.
There are 20 other similar sensor-triggered turn signals throughout the five boroughs, including one at Flatbush Avenue and Aviation Road in Marine Park, according to a Department of Transportation spokeswoman.
The Department of Transportation will also mount a long-requested all-way stop sign at the intersection of Ryder Street and Avenue P, where a motorist slammed into a 9-year-old boy in December 2016, sending him to the hospital in critical condition.
