Markey Hails City Timetable to Implement, At Long Last, End to Excessive Truck Traffic on Grand Avenue; Maspeth Bypass Recommendation is Due This Fall

January 25, 2010

Assemblywoman Markey and Queens Transportation Commissioner Maura McCarthy discuss the timetable for finalizing a truck bypass plan to be announced this fall.

Maspeth – Assemblywoman Margaret Markey says the long-awaited “Maspeth Bypass” to remove excessive truck traffic from Grand Avenue may finally be implemented by the city Department of Transportation this year.

Following a meeting last week with Borough Transportation Commissioner Maura McCarthy, Assemblywoman Markey said, “A decade of pressure and lobbying by elected officials and community leaders is finally getting us results.”

She added, “At long last, there is a successful end in sight to a decade of frustration about the city’s failure to implement a solution to the long-standing concerns about truck traffic through residential and retail areas of Maspeth.”

Assemblywoman Markey said the Department of Transportation (DOT) will formally announce its timetable this week for completing its engineering analysis of the bypass, started last fall, and present a final plan for mitigating truck traffic through Maspeth. The agency will present three alternative bypass proposals to the community for review in September and in October it will make a final recommendation of the plan for implementation. One of the three plans for consideration is the one submitted by the late Frank Principe and Community Board Five (CB5) in 2001. Their plan to deal with excessive truck traffic on Grand Avenue was developed by Principe, a civil engineer, and other community leaders and formally endorsed by CB5.

“I have been involved with the truck issue since I first came to office,” said Assemblywoman Markey, “and have continued to pressure the city to recognize the serious safety concerns about this traffic and the urgent need to implement a bypass plan.” It wasn’t until 2007, however, that the city Department of Transportation released a study of truck traffic in Queens that identified Grand Avenue as a high priority area for attention. “Now we finally have a timetable to arrive at and implement a solution,” she added.

According to DOT’s McCarthy, the agency launched its $150,000 engineering analysis of the Maspeth truck traffic last fall. The work includes origin-destination and travel time and delay for truck traffic and an analysis of accident data at major intersections along Grand Avenue, Maurice Avenue, Flushing Avenue and other locations. The professional study is evaluating the Principe-CB5 proposal and improvements needed to implement it. They include roadway alignment and safety enhancements and other truck mitigation measures to guide trucks away from residential and retail areas in Maspeth.

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