HUTCH-METRO
ACCESS STUDY
Needs highway on-, offramps
to relieve traffi c
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A long-awaited traffi c study has
shed light on the feasibility of adding
roadways to ease traffi c congestion
at a busy offi ce complex.
Community leaders have obtained
a copy of a study that looks
into the scope of work and costs associated
with constructing roads
that would connect the southbound
Hutchinson River Parkway
and Marconi Street, near the
sprawling Hutchinson Metro Center
and the city’s 911 Call Center off
Pelham Parkway.
The roadways being considered
would include both on- and offramps
to and from the parkway,
as well as a road cut through the
center of the Hutch-Metro development
that would link to Marconi
Street, said Joe Kelleher, Simone
Metro Properties president, which
DOT approves
MP ‘road diet’
over opposition
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
The approval of controversial
traffi c fl ow changes on a Morris
Park artery has community leaders
contemplating legal action.
A one and a half mile NYC Department
of Transportation traffi
c calming and safety project –
otherwise known as a ‘road diet’
– was approved for Morris Park
Avenue over community objections
in a decision made public
on Thursday, December 6.
Morris Park Community Association
vigorously opposed
the plan for the road diet, and
Community Board 11 voted overwhelming
not to support it when
it was fi rst proposed.
Nevertheless, DOT will proceed
with its plan for the corridor
as it was originally proposed
in January, with the current two
travel lanes in either direction
reduced to one from Melville
Street in Van Nest to Newport
Avenue in Morris Park.
The plan should be implemented
in spring 2019, with roadway
line painting installations
taking approximately one month
depending on weather, stated a
DOT spokesman.
It calls for the creation of
left-turns bays and a fl ush median
in the center of the roadway
and dedicated bicycle lanes, and
would ban southbound left turns
from Unionport Road.
Al D’Angelo, MPCA president,
said that the road diet is just
something that the association
cannot accept.
“(DOT’s) argument is that it
cuts down on accidents,” said
D’Angleo, who said he expects
there to be traffi c tie ups and
delayed emergency vehicles on
Morris Park Avenue.
He added that he expects traffi
c “to slow to a crawl.”
The MPCA will consult with
an attorney to look into possibly
taking the city to court to seek
Amtrak derails Metro North
progress; MOU still not inked
BY ALEX MITCHELL
“Don’t be a scrooge, Amtrak”
said our Santa-hat wearing Borough
President Ruben Diaz Jr. while collecting
petition signatures at the
Mall at Bay Plaza on Friday, December
7; calling on the East Coast
transit goliath to get on board with
Metro North Railroad’s planned expansion
into the east Bronx.
During the process of collecting
over 2,000 signatures for a region
of the borough Diaz referred to as a
‘transit starved’, he went about explaining
the cause of the project’s
hold up.
When the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority announced the
expansion of Metro North service to
Penn Station via the Hell Gate Bridge
Continued on Page 4
earlier in 2018, by adding four new
Bronx stations at Co-op City, Morris
Park, Parkchester and Hunts Point
in the process, the agency was eager
to shift the $1.2 billion project from a
study to construction phase.
“It sounds like a large number
but it really isn’t for a project this
big,” Diaz said.
The new rail service would basically
share Amtrak’s current Penn
Station line from New Rochelle, into
Manhattan.
This $1.2 billion, track sharing
plan, has received support from
Washington, DC to Albany as both
Senator Chuck Schumer and Governor
Andrew Cuomo are proverbially
‘on board.’
Your Neighborhood — Your News® December 16, 2018
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PA GE 18
Sharing Holiday Cheer
Children and their families embraced the holiday spirit at Community
Board 7 and the 52nd Precinct’s annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
on Thursday, December 6 at Mosholu Parkway and Bainbridge Avenue.
Jaylen Segura received a holiday goodie bag from Father Christmas.
Photo by Miriam Quin
Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 19
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