QUEENS — Describing Woodhaven Boulevard as a “traffic nightmare,” a Queens councilman is calling for dedicated bus lanes along the busy thoroughfare.
Councilman Eric Ulrich, who represents Ozone Park and Woodhaven, claims that Woodhaven Boulevard is the most congested corridor in all of Queens County.
He said one way to solve the problem would be to implement a Select Bus Service and dedicated bus lanes along the 3.2-mile route, stretching from Ozone Park to Elmhurst.
“So from the Queens Center Mall all the way down we would have a dedicated bus lane that all express and local buses can travel in throughout the day,” Ulrich said at a Community Board 9 meeting earlier this week.
Ulrich also said he wanted to investigate a system, which automatically held green lights longer to allow buses to cross an intersection.
The councilman said he was working on the plan with the Department of Transportation which is currently “in the process of concluding a study” on the issue.
“This can be done in under a year,” he said.
A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said in an e-mail that "last summer, DOT implemented a number of short-term improvements on Woodhaven and going forward, the agency expects to discuss with the community additional suggestions for longer-term improvements, which could include Select Bus Service."