Solutions 4 New York

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Department of Transportation

Brookville Boulevard

The New York City Department of Transportation has well demonstrated its anti-motorist position, but the situation on Brookville Boulevard is a special case.  It appears that they have decided that the penalty for drunk or even slightly inattentive driving should be death!

For those not familiar with Brookville Boulevard between Rockaway Boulevard (NY 878) and 149 Avenue in the Rosedale section of Queens a description of the street is in order.  It is often called “snake road” by locals.  It is a narrow (one lane in each direction, no shoulders, no curbs), poorly marked, largely unlit road through a swampy marsh (actually, a tidal wetland), with ten? generally unmarked curves.  A portion is underwater at high tide.  The portion in question is approximately 2.5 miles long.  If a vehicle drives off the road it will be partially or completely submerged in water.

Con Ed replaced the electric poles that carried the street lights about a month before Superstorm Sandy (October 2012).  The city didn’t reinstall the street lights for almost 2 years (February 2014) and Con Ed reconnected them in March.  By October 2014 some light were again non-functional and by March 2015 roughly half of the lights were out.  Again.

MUTCD, section 3A-02 Standard:

03 Markings that must be visible at night shall be retroreflective unless ambient illumination assures that the markings are adequately visible.