QUEENS — Long Island City residents celebrated the the installation of a new four-way stop sign on 5th Street Friday morning that one local politician says is the beginning of a series of steps to keep a heavily trafficked area safe.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer was joined by students and faculty from nearby P.S. 78 to unveil the new stop sign, which he hoped would soon lead to other traffic safety measures.
“Today is the beginning of what I hope to be the introduction of numerous traffic calming measures in Long Island City,” Van Bramer said in a statement. “With these stop signs this heavily trafficked corridor will help prevent any further accidents from happening, keeping our kids safe from harm."
Van Bramer said the stop sign, located at the corner of Fifth Street and 47th Avenue, is the result of two years of relaying complaints from local residents about street safety, as the population of the neighborhood has grown and more apartment buildings have been developed.
The intersection is near an elementary school and two others that are yet to be built as well as new developments.
Now the councilman said he hoped the Department of Transportation would introduce other street calming measures to keep up with the growth, such as speed bumps, new pedestrian paths and even possibly changing the busy street from a two-way to a one-way.
The intersection has become an especially dangerous spot. The new four-way stop sign will replace a "people's stop sign" that the pol and local residents erected in May to curb accidents.
“I saw many fender benders here in the last couple of months,” mother Stephanie Bull, 35, said at the time. “I’m afraid to walk here with my son and dog.”
