Advocacy Group: Pump $2.4 Billion Per Year Into Fixing Dangerous Roads in NYC
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — An advocacy group said Tuesday said while the mayor’s program to improve traffic safety is admirable, it will require a lot more effort – and a lot more money – to make the city’s roads truly safe.
At the rate the city is going, Transportation Alternatives figures it will take at least 100 years for all the city’s dangerous roads to be fixed, 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported.
The group’s policy manager, Alana Miller, said if the city is really serious about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to reduce street fatalities, much more money must be spent.
The organization asked for $2.4 billion every 10 years in capital investment to redesign major multilane roads, such as Queens Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue.
Existing efforts to reduce the speed limit citywide and creating slow zones on some roads are not enough, according to the organization.
“The speed limit was a hugely important first step, but really without an unparalleled investment in street design to prohibit speeding cars, Vision Zero won’t be achievable,” Miller said.
With the added investment, the dangerous roads can be fixed in 50 years rather than 100, the organization said.
Work is under way on some major roads. Work began this month on a 1.3-mile stretch of Queens Boulevard from Roosevelt Avenue to 73rd Street, where six people have been killed and many others injured in traffic incidents between 2009 and 2013.
Between 2003 and 2013, the 7-mile corridor saw 38 traffic fatalities and 448 severe injuries, according to the Department of Transportation.
Transportation Alternatives emphasized that Mayor de Blasio’s budget is not finalized. Activists on Monday lobbied City Council members to increase capital and operating funding to fix dangerous streets more quickly in all five boroughs.
