The 21st Street Redesign is a project that aims to redesign 21st Street to improve bus service and make the 21st St corridor in Queens safer for pedestrians.

             The 21st St corridor runs 1.95 miles between Astoria and Long Island City in Queens from the RFK Bridge(Triboro Bridge) in Astoria and Queensboro Bridge in Long Island City. The corridor is served by three bus routes, the Q66, Q69, and Q100-LTD, that residents and other visitors use to get around. However, overall buses along the corridor are extremely slow.  For instance the Q69 (which travels locally throughout the entire corridor), has been noted to move at a rate significantly slower than the Queens average of about 9 mph.  This has led to slow and unreliable commutes for many along the corridor.  According to on-street surveys conducted by the NYCDOT in 2019, 93% of the 200 people surveyed said they traveled into and around Astoria by bus, indicating strong demand for faster buses in the area. In addition to the issue of slow buses, the corridor is also considered dangerous for pedestrians. Designated as a Vision Zero priority corridor, the 21st St corridor has seen 87 injuries between 2014 and 2018. The corridor has pretty high foot traffic, with some  major intersections having hundreds of daily crossings and the 21st/Broadway intersection receiving a whopping 1,487 pedestrians daily.

       One person on 21st St said “There’s a lot of traffic on 21st St. You know how crazy this street gets?  Sometimes it’s like you can be waiting in traffic for 5 minutes when the bus stop is on the next block.” Another called the bus service “lousy” and said “Well, when you need them, they’re not here. Then 3 come at once and you could be waiting 45 minutes.”

          To address these issues, the NYCDOT has proposed curbside bus lanes along the corridor. As for buses, many transit advocates and others are not pleased with the plan the NYCDOT is proceeding with. There were three options the DOT looked into, one being median running bus lanes similar to those seen on Edward L Grant Hwy in The Bronx. Another would be curbside bus lanes and solely curbside jump lanes, which would not provide buses priority through the corridor, but at intersections for them to get a head start in front of other traffic. Drivers favored the curbside bus lane proposal, as it preserved parking spots which would have been lost had NYCDOT gone with the median bus lane plan.  During the January 12, 2022 public hearing on the matter, DOT Officials pointed out that a center-running lane may be difficult in comparison to the two much wider boulevards in the Bronx that currently run this type of lane.  Another concern with a center running lane is the slowing down of the Limited stop Q100 bus as it would get stuck behind local buses. Even if the curbside bus lanes don’t speed up as much as center running lanes would have, based on how the bus lanes have worked throughout the city these will significantly improve overall bus speeds. A similar plan on the heavily congested East 149th Street in The Bronx improved bus speed by 14%. Everyone I spoke to on the corridor was happy with the proposed lanes.

              Another bus improvement taking place is the elimination of 9 bus stops along 21st St that are closer together than 750 feet(which is a little less than 3 city blocks).

             As for pedestrians, there are a slew of issues regarding pedestrian safety and the NYCDOT has outlined plans to address many of them. A major cause of injuries on 21st St were left turns which accounted for 34 total injuries out of the 104 reported between 2015-19 on the corridor., only 2 of which occurred when a pedestrian crossed against a signal. As a result, the DOT plans to restrict left turns in many locations as well as build left turn lanes in some locations to make turning vehicles more visible to pedestrians. Also a major concern were instances where there was no crosswalk on 21st st at intersections with side streets and painted curb extensions. NYCDOT officials at a January 9th, 2022 public hearing said that they will continue to do more Signal Warrant Analysis(SWA) to see if signals and crosswalks are needed at more intersections. One person I spoke with named Michael knows all too well the consequences associated with the dangers of crossing 21st st as his dog was hit by a bus on 21st St/Broadway a year and a half ago. “This whole avenue, it’s pretty busy. The drivers here are pretty nuts. In actuality, our dog got hit by a bus a year and a half ago and I don’t think too fondly about the idea of crossing 21st St” Michael says.  Another pedestrian spoke on the issue of left turns “The people who make left a lot of the time are reckless and they don’t look out for pedestrians”. Some were also concerned with the complexity and volume of cars at the 21st St and Astoria Blvd intersection. One said “It’s too many cars going and coming and you have to be very careful here.”  Most of the pedestrians also supported the new proposed pedestrian improvements. The second one I spoke with who also was a driver also had some concerns over pedestrian behavior as well as the space pedestrian improvements would have on cars. She pointed out,”The pedestrians are part of the problem because they cross in the wrong spot.” ”I also drive, so I’m on both sides of the issue.” When asked about pedestrian improvements she said, “I don’t know if there’s room for it.” I don’t know exactly how it would play out on Queens Boulevard or something like that. You have room for it but if you put an island here you also lose a lane of traffic”.