CORONA—The Department of Transportation is looking to put the brakes on motorists who have been tearing through Corona — proposing a 20 mph speed limit and speed bumps for a large swath of the neighborhood in the wake of a spate of accidents there.
Prompted by speeding drivers and over two dozen accidents over the last year, the DOT has proposed converting a large portion of the neighborhood into a “slow zone” where vehicles will be expected to drive at 20 mph.
The zone would be among 13 that are proposed for neighborhoods around the city as part of an initiative to make city streets safer.
The proposed zone, an approximately 30-block area bounded by 34th Avenue in the North, Roosevelt Avenue in the South, Junction Boulevard to the West and 108th Street in the East, will come up for a vote at Thursday’s Community Board 3 meeting.
In addition to the speed limit change from the city standard of 30 mph, the proposal includes 14 new speed bumps on top of the five existing ones, to slow down speeding cars in the area, the DOT said.
More than a dozen new “gateways” — areas that are clearly marked as slow zones with signage and “20mph” painted on the road — will also be added.
“People can rev up to 30 mph in streets without street bumps,” said DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy. “But in these areas [slow zones] they will be ticketed.”
The proposed slow zone is partly residential and commercial and home to two subway stops and two schools.
“There are quality of life improvements with a slow zone,” DOT City Planner Viola said. “There is less traffic noise, the streets become more social [usable].”
The Corona slow zone, part of a larger citywide initiative to create safe streets, would be the second in the city to date. Currently, Claremont Avenue in The Bronx is the city’s only slow zone and one is also proposed for Inwood.
The Corona slow zone proposal, if approved by Community Board 3, will be implemented by the end of this year, the DOT said.
Meanwhile, residents and drivers frustrated by speeding cars in Jackson Heights and Elmhurst will have to wait for their final slow zone proposal on the area.
This slow zone will be bound by Astoria Boulevard on the North, 31st Avenue in the South, 82nd Street in the East and the BQE in the West, the DOT revealed.
The final details have yet to be worked out.
