After Years of Advocacy, Boro Park Street Corner Gets a Stop Sign

The corner of 11th Avenue and 46th Street got a little bit safer as the Department of Transportation finally installed an all-way stop sign at the dangerous corner which has many accidents over the years.

Community Board 12 has been asking for such a sign for years only to be told that “traffic conditions do not meet nationally recognized traffic engineering standards for installation of a traffic control.” After repeated requests for clarification, the Community Board was informed that the standard was dependent on reported accidents.

Two weeks ago, State Senator Simcha Felder joined with State Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, City Councilman Kalman Yeger and District Manager Barry Spitzer in writing a letter to the Commissioner of Transportation Ydanis Rodriguez demanding an onsite visit to observe the dangerous conditions in person. In response to the letter, a traffic calming device was approved for installation.

Although he conveyed his gratitude for the action taken by the DOT, State Senator Felder expressed his consternation at the multi-year delay in getting the approval. “It should never take years to approve a stop sign. In a community with numerous safety concerns, I look forward to a much swifter response going forward.”

“With three streets converging to travel on one single short block, it was imperative that DOT take this immediate step to insure roadway safety,” Councilman Yeger said. “An all-way stop sign is a temporary fix. We still need greater efforts from DOT to ultimately address the traffic situation at this intersection.”

“After many requests and multiple car accidents, the DOT finally came through to install a much needed stop sign on this very dangerous corner,” said Assemblyman Eichenstein. “Thank you DOT for hearing our voices. The streets of Boro Park are now a little bit safer.”

District Manager Barry Spitzer said, “We would like to thank Commissioner Rodriguez and the DOT for installing the sign and Senator Felder, Councilman Yeger and Assemblyman Eichenstein for constantly being in the trenches with us on behalf of the community.”