In Response To Community’s Concerns, DOT To Launch Left Turn Study At Cortelyou Road & Coney Island Avenue
After a pedestrian was struck at Cortelyou Road and Coney Island Avenue last week, neighbors once again sounded the cry for safer conditions at a notoriously dangerous intersection that, for years, has drawn concerns from residents — and it appears that the DOT has heeded the call.
A DOT spokesperson told us Wednesday evening that the department will launch a left turn study at Cortelyou Road and Coney Island Avenue in “the upcoming weeks.”
According to the DOT, the last left turn study conducted at this location was in the fall of 2013 — when city officials rejected the idea of implementing a turn signal at the site because “conditions and crash history in the area did not satisfy criteria to approve a left turn,” the spokesperson said.
One of our neighbors, who didn’t want their name shared, sent us the April 7 response they received from the DOT regarding their request for a left turn signal for vehicles turning east from Coney Island Avenue onto Cortelyou Road.
The DOT email to our neighbor reads:
In response to your concern, the Department of Transportation (DOT) Signal Engineering Unit will conduct a preliminary study of conditions at this location, among them roadway capacity and intersection design. Data measuring traffic and pedestrian volumes, vehicular speeds, accident history, visibility, and other relevant information will be collected. This study will be completed in about 6 months.
This process takes some time to complete, but it provides traffic engineers with enough information to reach decisions which are in the best interests of public safety and efficient street operation. Brooklyn Borough Commissioner will inform you of our findings and recommendations by mid November 2015.
The safety of our residents is of primary concern to the DOT. Please be assured that we will fully investigate this matter. Your participation in transportation issues which affect your community is greatly appreciated.
Community members have long said change is needed at this intersection, with many neighbors noting the number of children who cross there to go to Ditmas I.S. 62 at 700 Cortelyou Road — as well as just the large amount of general foot and vehicular traffic.
This past fall, a neighbor urged the city to fund a “pedestrian friendly intersection at Coney Island Avenue and Cortelyou Road,” which she said would allow people to “safely cross the street without the fear of being hit by turning buses, cars, and trucks, despite the walk signal, and those running red lights.”
Immediately after the neighbor proposed the project through the city’s participatory budgeting website, other residents threw their support behind a safer intersection.
“This would be a game changer for both Ditmas Park & Kensington,” neighbor Daniel Silverman wrote regarding the neighbor’s participatory budgeting proposal. “Given that there’s been such intense growth in the restaurant/retail/service biz between Stratford and East 9th Streets on Cortelyou and on CIA between Avenue C and Ditmas Avenue, it’s about time the proper attention was paid to safety.”
What do you think? Would you like to see a left turn signal here? Is there something else you’d rather see? Or is there another project you’d like to see in addition to the signal? Let us know what you think in the comments below.