Bushwick Crossroads Where 400 People Have Been Hurt In Five Years Gets Redesign

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — A busy intersection that's claimed almost 400 accident-related injuries in the past five years has been redesigned under Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero initiative, the Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

The five-pronged intersection where the Jackie Robinson Parkway meets Bushwick, Jamaica and Pennsylvania avenues received new pedestrian crossways, standing areas and traffic signs, according to a statement from the Department of Transportation

“It is unacceptable that this intersection has for too long caused hundreds of injuries,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams in a statement.

“These upgrades at just one busy junction demonstrate how we can come together to make Brooklyn a safer place to walk, drive and bike.”

The redesign made five major improvements to the intersection, authorities said.

• Two new crosswalks and pedestrian signals were installed at the center of the intersection and next to the Jackie Robinson Parkway.
• A pedestrian island was re-constructed in the northern crosswalk of the Jackie Robinson Parkway and another was built on Jamaica Avenue.
• Left turn-lanes were eliminated on Jamaica and Pennsylvania avenues and those streets’ lanes were redrawn.
• Seven new parking spots were created on the southern curb of Jamaica Avenue between Sheffield and Pennsylvania avenues.
• New and brighter LED lighting was installed across the entire intersection.

The Department of Transportation identified the intersection as a problematic traffic corridor in 2015, said the agency whose data shows that 373 injuries occurred at the intersection in the past five years.

The initiative is a part of Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero campaign, to which he has pledged a $317 million investment in 2018 and $1.6 billion investment over the next five years.

The mayor has credited Vision Zero with saving the lives of pedestrians and cyclists but a Patch analysis found the rate of traffic-caused fatalities in New York City has remained steady.

Image via Google Maps/Oct. 2016