NO one knows Long Island City better than LICtalk. NO ONE! Unlike politicians, journalistic interlopers, and other carpet-baggers, we eat, breathe, and actually live on the streets of this town. Therefore we’ll share a local issue that has heretofore been missed. While every talking head discusses the worry about overcrowding on the 7-train (legit but obvious), there’s a much smaller yet more immediate bottleneck that will require a solution: access into and out of the Vernon Jackson Station AND the shuttle buses on Vernon Blvd. Both of these are already problematic, as the western entry/exit to the VJ station (those two on Vernon Boulevard) is at peak capacity during rush hour. As is Vernon Boulevard itself between 49th and 50th Avenues, especially in the morning. Any incremental traffic, be it pedestrian or vehicular, will lead to gridlock, and that volume is coming in the next year – even before Amazon – based on nearby residential projects being completed. One partial solution is to force all shuttle buses to load/unload on Jackson Avenue by the subway entrances located there. This will probably require some municipal actions, such as swapping parking for shuttle stops, so given the lead time needed for the city agencies, it should be dealt with as soon as possible. Ok Amazon committee, you’ve been handed your first assignment. This is an easy (but vital) problem to solve, and with it you’ll get to kill two birds with one stone. Time to execute…
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Rexlic says
December 20, 2018 at 1:54 pmThe intersection at Vernon and 50th has long been scheduled for a do-over. The plaza is due to be shifted over to where the northbound roadway currently is, with that lane running alongside the southbound one as it does on the rest of the roadway. At least, those were the plans announced a few years back. Don’t know what’s going to become of it. They also need to move those lamp posts away from the subway entrances.
Anonymous says
December 20, 2018 at 7:12 pmThe bottleneck near the #7 subway is one thing. The ability to navigate from Borden Avenue to the Queensboro Bridge along Vernon Blvd. is another. We are talking about a two lane road with a bike lane. There are going to be bottlenecks throughout. This area was not designed to accommodate this kind of traffic. And then the DeBlasio adminstration Is still encouraging the BQX streetcar. What are they thinking?
Anonymous says
December 20, 2018 at 7:18 pmThe bottleneck near the #7 subway is one thing. The ability to navigate from Borden Avenue to the Queensboro Bridge along Vernon Blvd. is another. We are talking about a two lane road with a bike lane. There are going to be bottlenecks throughout. This area was not designed to accommodate this kind of traffic. And then the DeBlasio adminstration Is still encouraging the BQX streetcar. What are they thinking?
And as for the other Community Advisory Committee, Alicia Glen is resigning. So much for a commitment by the city for looking out for its residents.