Crosswalks & Speed Bumps Slated For 21st Avenue In Bensonhurst, Says DOT

Carly Miller -
DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg joined Assembly Member Dov Hikind on 21st Avenue last year to evaluate potential safety improvements. (Photo via Office of Dov Hikind)

This week, Assemblymember Dov Hikind announced enhanced crosswalks are coming to three Bensonhurst intersections and speed bumps along 21st Avenue, after a 2016 meeting between Hikind, community officials, and DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

The crosswalk improvements are slated for 21st Avenue at 57th Street, 21st Avenue at 58th Street, and 17th Avenue at 57th Street, featuring “yield to pedestrian” traffic signage, confirmed the DOT.

A total of 16 injuries from traffic crashes have been recorded at those intersections combined between 2010 and 2016, according to data compiled by the Vision Zero Review.

In addition, new “speed humps” will be installed along 21st Avenue from 53rd Street to 60th Street, according to a DOT spokesperson. The humps, intended to slow down drivers, will be placed on a stretch of road where 38 people have been injured between 2010 and 2016 — not including two deaths nearby on 21st Avenue (one at 63rd Street and one at 62nd Street).

DOT building an enhanced crosswalk in the Bronx. (Photo via NYC DOT / twitter)

We reached out to the DOT to confirm a timeline for these infrastructure improvements but didn’t hear back in time for publication. We will update the story as soon as we get a response.

This week, Hikind praised Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Trottenberg for their “incredible response” to the community’s safety concerns.

“We are thrilled that Mayor de Blasio and the NYC DOT have addressed the safety concerns we raised on our walk-through of 21

st

Avenue,” Hikind said. “The installment of these speed bumps and enhanced crosswalks demonstrate NYC’s full commitment to improving safety for pedestrians and motorists alike.”

(Photo via office of Dov Hikind)

This praise comes after Dov Hikind rallied aggressively against a different project from the New York State DOT: Governor Cuomo’s Ocean Parkway improvement plan, which includes a ban on turns from the main artery of Ocean Parkway at Avenues C, J, P, and Kings Highway.

Hikind discredited the DOT’s accident stats on Ocean Parkway that led them to implement the turn ban, and claims that the ban would result in blocking the service roads where emergency vehicles operate.