Traffic calming in effect on Empire Blvd.

Back in June, we wrote about the Department of Transportation's traffic calming proposal for Empire Boulevard. Good news: that plan has come to fruition. From Bedford to Utica Avenue, Empire now has one lane in each direction (previously, there were two). Bike lanes have been put in along that stretch, and left turn bays have been added to intersections. 

Over time, the DOT hopes to solidify the changes, adding protected pedestrian islands and landscaping.

These changes won't have much of an impact on PLG: the territory they directly affect are outside and on the border of the neighborhood. But, thanks to public input, the DOT has decided to go back and revisit the stretches of Empire most critical to our nabe, including the intersections and Ocean/Flatbush, and Washington.

According to DOT rep Hillary Poole:

We went back out and collected more data and have someone working on design. Things like this take a while, but we hope to get this approved as a 2010 project. 

So who knows, maybe we'll be seeing some much-needed safety improvements in the next couple of years.