During the March Traffic and Transportation committee meeting of Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7), NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) presented its final plan on proposed bus and pedestrian improvements to address congestion along Gun Hill Road before the plan’s implementation in the coming months.

 

DOT said as part of the discussions around the MTA Bronx Bus Network Redesign project, implemented in 2022, more than 50 outreach events were held, and it was clear the community wanted to see improvements to the Gun Hill Road bus service, named as one of ten key Bronx corridors for bus priority.

 

DOT officials said the goal of the Gun Hill Road project was to make bus service in the area faster and more reliable, reduce crashes, improve safety, and better organize the traffic flow for all parties. The plan dates back to 2019. Meanwhile, some of the challenges included heavy traffic, double parking, broken street grids, and the Bronx River Parkway bottleneck.

 

Sarah Feller, senior project manager for DOT’s bus priority team, said the department based the plan on feedback from the local community and DOT’s analysis of traffic flows. “One thing we heard was that Gun Hill Road was a really busy bus route, but a really slow and unreliable one,” she said.

 

According to DOT’s data analysis, 40,000 bus passengers use the Gun Hill Road route daily, and it serves as a critical crosstown service with key connections to the 2, 5, and D trains, many local bus routes, Montefiore Hospital, Co-Op City, and Bay Plaza.

 

According to DOT’s analysis, only 65 percent of the BX28 and BX38 bus trips were completed within 5 minutes of their scheduled departure time and peak period trips would take 15-17 minutes longer than evening or overnight trips. DOT also reviewed five years of crash data for the period 2015-2019. “Five people every week were injured in crashes on Gun Hill Road,” Feller said.

 

She continued, “Ultimately, we have a responsibility to make the streets safer for everybody who uses them, so safety improvements are a big part of this proposal.” To address congestion, DOT plans to implement a center bus lane, bus boarding islands, metered parking, offset bus lanes, and truck-loading zones to help reduce double parking.

 

Feller said with congestion so prevalent in the area, the hope is that these changes will help improve the flow of both foot and vehicular traffic. The improvements include converting 31 full-time parking spaces along the route to accommodate bus boarding islands.

 

She said there will also be 4 new truck-loading zones, 3 new residential loading zones, and 49 newly metered parking spots to help ensure parking availability for drivers. Feller added that where some existing bus-stops were removed or spaced out, 12 new parking spots were created.

 

“We made sure there were alternate routes for folks to get to and from any block,” Feller added. The DOT will also be implementing a new signalized and marked, mid-block crossing to connect the main entrance of the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore to the Greene Medical Arts Pavilion. This is expected to be implemented sometime in the winter of 2023.

We are the city that’s got places to go and people to see. That’s why six-minute bus service is a necessity! #6MinuteService

–@Fernandez4NY pic.twitter.com/yby63zjChZ

— 🚇 Riders Alliance (@RidersAlliance) March 21, 2023

“These are things that Montefiore Hospital specifically requested [us] that we do, and we think it’s going to be really beneficial for us and for them, and for the neighborhood,” said Feller.

 

Two southbound bus stops will also be consolidated into one at the near side of 210th Street and Bainbridge Avenue at some point in the spring 2023. As it currently stands, there are two bus stops just one block apart.

 

CB7 board members and members of the public were later given the opportunity to ask questions about the plan. Andrew Laiosa, a member of CB7’s executive committee, expressed concerns over what he said was a lack of enforcement when it came to car owners who park in no-standing zones. He felt this could derail the plan.

 

Feller said DOT were aware this was an issue and took that into account when devising the plan. She said DOT will also monitor the plan to see what works and what doesn’t.

 

Other members expressed concerns over school buses, parking, and smaller green time windows for pedestrians to cross the street. Edgar Ramos, the transportation chair, requested that traffic enforcement agents be available during peak hours to help students and patients safely cross the street.

 

On March 21, State Sen. Nathalia Fernandez (S.D. 36), representing a large part of the north east Bronx, held a press conference in Albany with the Riders Alliance and called for a 6-minute bus service across The Bronx.

 

Later during the meeting, NYPD Sgt. Batz of Transit District 11 provided an overview of crime data for both the D and 4 train lines. “On both lines, it’s pretty much the same problem,” said Batz. “We’ve had 5 major crimes in the past 28-day period.”

 

He said the crimes are related to robberies and passengers falling asleep and waking up on the train with property missing. Batz advised passengers to be aware of their surroundings, especially when sitting close to the train doors.

 

Megan Molina, a Bronx representative for the MTA, later provided an update on the installation of the long-awaited elevator at Mosholu Parkway train station.

 

Ramos said he thought it was part of a recently announced mobility project. Molina said it wasn’t but that “it’s still a priority.” The station serves two Norwood hospitals, NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx and Montefiore Medical Center.

 

Later in the meeting, CB7 land use chair Erick Ascencio was nominated as co-chair of the Traffic and Transportation committee to assist Ramos with the running of the meetings, since the departure of Yajaira Arias from the role. He accepted the position.

 

The next Traffic and Transportation meeting is scheduled for April 6. DOT’s Gun Hill Road presentation can be read at:  https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/gun-hill-rd-cb11-mar2023.pdf.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.