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By Max Jaeger
Brooklyn Daily
The state’s traffic-safety pitch was a wreck.
Members of Community Board 18 sent the state back to the drawing board after it presented a proposal for safety improvements along Ocean Parkway on May 27.
“Your proposal sucks,” board member Ira Teper told representatives from the state Department of Transportation.
Part of the plan would bar right turns from Ocean Parkway onto major thoroughfares including Kings Highway and Avenue P, but board members said the move would cause more problems than it would cure.
“You’re going to force people through residential areas,” said board member Allen Popper. “I think that’s going to cause major problems, 24-7.”
Most traffic accidents are caused by turning vehicles, said state transportation engineer Olu Fajolu.
The intersection of Ocean Parkway and Avenue P averages nearly two accidents per month and has seen at least 55 collisions since August 2011, according to data from NYC Crashmapper, which compiles crash data from the police department.
The plan would also bar cars from entering Ocean Parkway from the service road at Kings Highway, as well as Avenues P and U.
Teper said banning turns misses the point and called on the department to install traffic signals along the service road.
The city Department of Transportation maintains traffic signals, and an agency spokesman said the city and state would review any resolution the board sends requesting traffic signals.
Residents and the state did agree on one point — pedestrians need a dedicated time to cross when all traffic is halted.
“It’s very difficult to cross Ocean Parkway,” Fajolu said.
Residents have long argued for dedicated crossing times and transportation department officials are heeding their call.
The city and state are still identifying which intersections will see pedestrian-only crossing times, said state traffic engineer Fred Lai.
The project will span Ocean Parkway from the Prospect Park Expressway to Shore Boulevard and will be funded with $5 million from the state, according to Lai. After taking community input, the state plans to start construction in April 2015 and complete work by fall of that year.
State representatives said they would rework the proposal and bring it back to the community board before starting work.
“We know we’ve got to refine this more, and we will,” said state spokesman Charles O’Shea. “Our whole purpose is to make Ocean Parkway safer for pedestrians as they cross.”