Despite its name, traffic on Gun Hill Road is known to be anything but bullet speed. That’s why the Department of Transportation has presented a new study that includes a slew of fixes it hopes will speed up the molasses-slow road.
The East Gun Hill Corridor Study proposes a series of street direction changes, extended sidewalks and curbs, and repairs to make intersections safer and speed up traffic.
Five different buses stop at East Gun Hill Road and Bainbridge Avenue, and the intersection is home to several busy Montefiore Medical Center buildings. One proposal would extend a curb and eliminate left turns at two crossings, a move the DOT says would stop the snail-like pace of vehicles trying to turn as pedestrians are trying to cross.
Raymond Vanderburg, a street vendor who sets up by the corner, says he thinks eliminating the left turns would help the clogged intersection. Behind him, caravans of SUVs and city buses made their turns one by one onto Bainbridge Avenue.
“A couple times, I almost got hit,” said Debra Lomax, a school crossing guard. She said drivers just don’t pay attention on the road.
Other proposed changes in the study include:
- Extending one corner of Jerome Avenue and Gun Hill Road by 20 feet to shorten the cross time for pedestrians.
- Making Perry, Hull and Decatur avenues one-way streets to simplify the flow of traffic.
- Adding a double-yellow line on Webster Avenue to encourage drivers to yield before turning.
- Eliminating a right turn at Olinville Avenue and turning one ramp into a sidewalk.
- Extending the curb at the corner of Reservoir Place and Gun Hill Road to make the left turn sharper, forcing drivers to slow down.
- Installing countdown traffic signals, repairing curbs, repainting crosswalks, and changing traffic light timing.
The DOT plans to confer with Community Board 7 before moving forward with the proposal.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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The very last thing gunhill road needs is SPEED. Cars speed through every intersection. Pedestrians’ safety is an afterthought. What is really needed are all walk lights (meaning there is a time for everyone to cross with no traffic, such as 79th and 72nd streets in Manhattan)
Cars making left turns often try to run over pedestrians.
As I have said before,much of the tie-up is a result of cars and buses driving in the wrong lanes just so they can get ahead and NOT be in the long lane of cars going straight ahead, either east or west on Gun Hill Road. Cars and buses sit in the lanes that are designated soley for the turns onto the south and north-bound Bronx River Parkway. They do not move when the turn arrow appears and everyone TRYING to turn is stuck behind them, motionless. Those buses and cars then cut into the lanes designated as straight-through east and west lanes, causing cars in those lanes to hit their breaks so as not to have an accident.
Cars on Webster Avenue trying to turn onto Gun Hill Road going west continue to go throw their red light, thus completely clogging up the intersection and making passage impossible by anyone. Are there red light cameras there? Do ALL of these inconsiderate, selfish drivers get a ticket for going through a red light? That would help some, knowing there was a consequence for their illegal behavior.