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Read the press release here.

City Agrees to Put Stop Sign Near LIC Schools Following Public Outcry

By Jeanmarie Evelly | June 16, 2017 3:42pm | Updated on June 19, 2017 8:55am
 Councilman Van Bramer and local kids erected a fake homemade stop sign at the intersection during a press conference in January.
Councilman Van Bramer and local kids erected a fake homemade stop sign at the intersection during a press conference in January.
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Courtesy Jimmy Van Bramer's Office

LONG ISLAND CITY — The Department of Transportation will install a stop sign at a busy corner where it had previously rejected calls for one, saying it reanalyzed the intersection this week at the request of elected officials and local parents.

The all-way stop sign will be erected at the intersection of 5th Street and 51st Avenue, a crossing point for students heading to 1-50 50th Ave. down the block, where three schools are located within the same building.

Parents and local leaders have long called for a stop sign at the location. Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer held a rally pushing for one in January, and more than 300 people sign an online petition requesting it.

"The kids are crossing on their way to school and there's no traffic light for them, no stop sign for them," Paul Cynamon, head of the PTA at the nearby Hunters Point Community Middle School, told DNAinfo earlier this week.

DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg shot down the stop sign request just two weeks ago, telling Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan that the intersection "did not meet the nationally recognized safety engineering standards" for one.

But the agency reanalyzed data on the corner this week after continued calls from advocates, according to a spokesman.

The DOT also plans to establish "Slow Zones" on three streets around the school building, where the speed limit will be lowered from 25 to 20 miles per hour,  officials said. Those will be in place before school starts in the fall.

The stop sign will go up by the end of next week, a spokesman said.