Regarding Bicycle Lane on Northern  Boulevard

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September 22, 2017                                                    

 

Hon. Nicole Garcia

Queens Borough Commissioner

NYC Department of Transportation

120-55 Queens Boulevard, 2nd Floor

Kew Gardens NY 11424

 

Dear Commissioner Garcia:

 

I write to reiterate the Westmoreland Association’s support of your Department’s plan for a dedicated bicycle lane on Northern Boulevard to run from the Joe Michaels Mile pathway adjacent to the Cross Island Parkway (CIP) east to Douglaston Parkway.  We also again request evaluation of a continuation of that bike lane eastward into Little Neck as far as the Queens/Nassau County line.

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We are a homeowners association representing the Westmoreland area of Little Neck.  Our community is bounded roughly by Northern Boulevard on the south; Little Neck Parkway on the west; 39th Road on the north; and Nassau Road on the east.  Our area includes approximately 330 households, about 80% of which are located in Queens with the remainder in Nassau County.

 

On December 6, 2013 I wrote to ask your Department to create a bicycle lane to connect our neighborhood to the Joe Michaels mile.  That request had been discussed and endorsed by a vote of our members at our November, 2013 meeting.

 

At the June 5, 2017 meeting of Community Board 11 I spoke in favor of the DOT’s plan for the CIP-to-Douglaston-Parkway bike lane.  I also restated our organization’s request that consideration be given to extending the bike lane east to our neighborhood. At that meeting CB-11 voted to support the DOT plan.

 

At our September 18, 2017 membership meeting the issue was again discussed at length, in light of the further action by CB-11 to endorse an alternative plan.  A motion was made and unanimously passed to confirm and reiterate our endorsement of the DOT plan and seek its prompt implemen-tation.  We believe that this plan will not only provide a much safer route for bicycle riders, but will also improve safety for motorists (by calming traffic through this stretch of Northern Boulevard, where vehicles often drive well above the speed limit) and for pedestrians (because bike riders now

 

often use the pedestrian sidewalk, given the danger of riding on the roadway).  We also reiterate our request that DOT consider extending the bike lane into Little Neck, to the City line.

 

We do not necessarily object to future consideration by DOT of the alternative plan recently put forward by CB-11, which envisions an expanded sidewalk to be shared by bicycle riders and pedestrians.  We have not had an opportunity to review the details of that plan, but it is our understanding that it is considerably more costly and complex than DOT’s current plan, and that it would most likely require up to five or more years to implement (even assuming funding were approved).  We therefore urge that DOT proceed with prompt implementation of the current plan.  We note that if and when an alternative plan is duly evaluated, designed, adopted and fully funded, it would be easy to convert from the currently planned configuration.

 

Sincerely,

    /s/ 

Walter Mugdan

President

 

cc:        Hon. Paul Vallone, New York City Council

           Community Board 11

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