By Jean Brannum | jbrannum@queensledger.com
After a long battle between two opposing organizations, politicians, the mayor, and the Department of Transportation, McGuinness Blvd will finally receive some modifications intended to improve safety.
But the modifications failed to address key issues according to advocates from Make McGuinness Safe.
The DOT informed elected officials on Aug. 20 that it would move forward with a compromised plan to end the cycle of deadly accidents, injuries and near-misses on the street.
A letter from the DOT to Community Board 1 shared details of the modifications. One of the two travel lanes will become parking overnight from 7 PM to 7 AM. There will be protected bike lanes and loading zones, but Make McGuinness Safe supporters believe that the bike lanes will continue to be blocked by trucks unloading due to a lack of parking during the day.
Longtime Greenpoint resident Kevin LaCherra explained that with two travel lanes and no parking until the evening, trucks may have no choice but to park and unload in the bike lane or block the travel lane.
Currently, the road has two travel lanes and one parking lane. The DOT proposed three different solutions and Make McGuinness Safe supported Plan B, which is to replace a travel lane with a parking lane and make the current parking lane a bike lane. The DOT studied the idea in 2021 and found that the plan may cause more congestion, but would divert more cars to the BQE and the Long Island Expressway. The study also found that cut-through traffic comprised 30% of total traffic.
However, the DOT approved Plan A, which was implemented in the northern part of McGuinness in the Summer of 2023. Make McGuinness Safe continued to advocate for one travel lane and one parking lane with loading zones and said that Plan A does not work to reduce collisions.
“We’re getting a plan that we already know doesn’t work because it’s been installed along the northern portion of McGuinness Blvd,” A statement from Make McGuinness Safe said on Instagram.
LaCherra said that the DOT’s solution essentially just added a bike lane that would be blocked by trucks unloading during the day.
“We are not adequately addressing the problem on McGuinness Blvd, which is not a lack of bike lanes, it’s speeding traffic and congestion. It is traffic being moved off of the highways onto local streets and speeding”
Councilmember Lincoln Restler, Gallagher, and State Senators Julia Salazar and Kristen Gonzalez are longtime advocates of the proposed changes. They released a statement with other elected officials.
“After repeatedly changing his mind and undermining DOT’s evidence-based redesign, Mayor Adams is going forward with a plan that fails Greenpoint by preserving the most dangerous elements of this roadway that runs through the middle of our community,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, a deleted tweet shows Keep McGuinness Moving retweeting the news about the redesign with a “peace” sign emoji and kissing face emoji.
An Ongoing Battle
The road has been plagued with injuries and deaths since its construction, according to Make McGuinness Safe and previous reporting. New articles log deaths and injuries on the street as far back as 1995. Since 2011, over 2,000 accidents have been reported including three deaths, according to CrashMapper.
In 2021, then-Mayor Bill DeBlasio pledged $40 million to redesign McGuinness after the death of PS110 teacher Matthew Jensen. His death sparked members of the community to form Make McGuinness Safe, which has garnered 10,000 signatures from residents to make the street safer.
In response to calls to remove a travel lane, a coalition of local businesses banded together to oppose the redesign called Keep McGuinness Moving. Participating businesses are not listed on the website citing harassment claims from those supporting Plan B.
In its statement against the redesign, Keep McGuinness Moving says that McGuinness is a coastal evacuation route and that removing a travel lane could cause congestion. The group has also said that cutting a travel lane would hurt local businesses.
LaCherra said that Make McGuinness Safe surveyed 103 local businesses, most were within 1000 feet of McGuinness, who supported the redesign. One of the reasons the group advocated for Plan B was due to the added loading zones incorporated into the parking lane.
The statement from Keep McGuinness Moving also urged the DOT to listen to all members of the community and recently published its own survey on X claiming that many local businesses were opposed to the redesign. The groups also released a statement on Aug. 27 opposing the elimination of permanent parking for bike lanes.
“We urge the DOT to broaden their approach and move the bike lanes to the safer residential streets. reinstitute parking, and focus on redesigning intersections.”
In 2022, the DOT implemented some changes while discussing street design solutions. Changes included extending medians so people would have a place to wait to cross midway and banning lightly-used left turns.
Make McGuinness Safe pushed for several changes to improve pedestrian safety. Mayor Eric Adams initially agreed to the changes verbally but walked back his agreement in 2023. He instead encouraged the Department of Transportation to work with both opponents and supporters of the plan, according to The CITY. The CITY reported that the campaign against the changes was backed by Broadway Stages owners Gina and Tony Argento. The Argentos have donated over $15,000 to Adam’s campaign.
The DOT eventually replaced a parking lane with bike lanes north of Freeman Ave in the Spring of 2024, according to Make McGuinness Safe. This modification matched Plan A. Still, the organization wants the bike lanes to extend to Meeker Ave and, more importantly, wants the second travel lane gone.
Despite a major setback for Make McGuinness Safe, LaCherra said that this is not the end of the fight for the redesign.
“As far as we’re concerned, nothing has changed. We’re going to continue fighting. We’re going to continue pushing. We’re going to continue to make our presence known and say that this is unacceptable.”