Do Better, DOT

Dear Editor:

The DOT will not be happy until all Rockaway motorists are walking. Before that happens however, most who have the means to move to a more transit friendly city, probably will.

After all, DOT has done nothing to promote reuse of existing transit assets like the Rockaway Beach Branch, but they have lobbied for congestion pricing that will punish south Queens drivers who have few other options.

While they can’t figure out how to rebuild 10 blocks of Edgemere Ave. (Beach 32nd to Beach 41st) in less than 18 months (the Empire State Building took 13 and a half months), they are proficient at removing valuable lanes. This policy, ironically called “traffic calming,” just exasperates the very congestion they claim is the problem. In the process, they create slow-moving conga lines that waste our priceless time, create more pollution and ultimately make our roads less safe.

The latest example of this misguided policy appears to be widening of the center median on Beach Channel Drive between Beach 108th and Beach 102nd that will create yet another one-lane bottleneck for westbound traffic. Why don’t they do something productive like changing the traffic light at Beach 102nd and BCD to a blinking yellow when Scholars’ is not in session? That change alone will save motorists and their passengers more than 200,000 hours of wasted time every year.

C’mon DOT, even you can do better.

Rick Horan