JACKSON HEIGHTS — Officials are trying to put the brakes on speeders by lowering the speed limits on two major roads in the coming months, part of the city's latest push to decrease pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
The Department of Transportation announced 14 thoroughfares around the city will be part of the second phase of its arterial slow zone program, including more than five miles of Metropolitan Avenue in Queens and most of Roosevelt Avenue.
"Slow zones are a critical and widely endorsed element of Vision Zero,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.
Streets in the slow zone program will have their speed limit lowered by 5 mph to 25 mph and there will be new signage installed. The NYPD will also implement increased enforcement of speed limits.
There were five fatalities on the 5.8 mile stretch of Roosevelt Avenue from 2008 and 2012, between Queens Boulevard and 154th Street, according to the DOT. There the new rules will be implemented in September.
The 5.6 mile stretch of Metropolitan Avenue, from Onderdonk Avenue to 132nd Street, saw six fatalities, and the new slow zone there will be implemented in December.
Earlier this year, the city created slow zones on four major roads in Queens — Jamaica Avenue, Northern Boulevard, Queens Boulevard and Rockaway Boulevard.