Community Board 10 unanimously rejected the city’s ill-conceived tonic for the dangerous Fort Hamilton Parkway exit from the Gowanus Expressway, demanding that officials consult with the board before implementing another potentially misguided scheme.
Last summer, the Department of Transportation redesigned the congested mess at the intersection at Fort Hamilton Parkway, Seventh Avenue and 78th Street, but the cure proved worse than the disease — and the city has spent the last few months vowing to fix the mess it made.
But on Monday, board members said the city’s latest design is no better, and suggested that perhaps the state Department of Transportation might be better suited to fix the problem.
“We need solutions now,” conceded Doris Cruz, chairwoman of the board’s Traffic and Transportation Committee.
Residents were flummoxed by a component of the plan that would allow exiting traffic to travel in any direction — but forbid local traffic to do the same by banning left turns onto 78th Street from Fort Hamilton. “If you live on 78th Street, you’d have a convoluted route to your home,” noted Cruz.
Residents also balked at the notion of allowing trucks to rumble along Fort Hamilton Parkway, rather than steering them onto Seventh Avenue, a truck route.
Still, some elements of the plan — including increased crossing time, a diagonal crosswalk near PS 127 at Seventh Avenue at 78th Street, and an added lane of car traffic to reduce congestion — have managed to curry favor.
But some board members were not sanguine about future fixes.
“The biggest problem is that the Department of Transportation doesn’t want to listen,” charged board member Allen Bortnick.
Councilman Vince Gentile (D–Bay Ridge) said he will meet with Transportation officials on May 24, when a better plan would likely be produced.
“It’s always amazing how bureaucrats come up with a plan before they talk to the community — and we’re going to try to fix that,” he said.