BROOKLYN, N.Y. — One of Brooklyn’s deadliest roads is headed for a rebuild. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn on Wednesday announced a plan to remake a 2.1-mile run of Third Avenue in Sunset Park, the blocks between 20th and 62nd streets that sit beneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
City figures show 17 people have been killed along that stretch in the last 10 years, and more than half were on foot or on a bike. In August a 28-year-old nurse walking home from her shift was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver at 55th Street. Police said Tuesday that the driver has still not been found.
The avenue is about 150 feet across today, with six moving lanes, parking on both sides and a center median 52 feet wide. Crossing it on foot means covering roughly half the length of a football field.
The new layout trims general traffic to four lanes and runs a barrier-protected bike lane in each direction along the center median. Curbside parking stays. New pedestrian islands and wider sidewalk and median corners are meant to cut the distance people walk across moving cars by as much as half.
The work comes in two phases. In 2027, crews take on the southern section, 43rd to 62nd streets. That same year, 60th Street gets a two-way bike lane shielded by parked cars, running from Second Avenue to Fourth Avenue past two schools. The blocks from 43rd Street to 20th Street follow in 2028.
Earlier plans for the corridor were shown to the local community board under the prior administration but never built. After a 2020 death on the avenue, the city cut the speed limit there to 25 mph. City Hall said the project is part of its Vision Zero plan to treat every one of the city’s most dangerous corridors within three years.
Section: More New York NY crime news
Filed under: New York NY Traffic News
