Community Board 10 hosts Department of City Planning on Ferry Point road study findings

Community Board 10 hosted the Department of City Planning in Ferry Point recently to discuss ideas for improving traffic flow in the community.

DCP presented a raft of proposals for Ferry Point – a community that has a mixture of commercial, industrial and residential uses.

Items on the agenda ranged from changing the location of the ramps to access the Hutchinson River Parkway to moving bus stops.

The dialogue took place during the CB 10 Municipal Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, June 9 at Monsignor Scanlan High School.

John Marano, a member of the East Bronx Traffic Coalition, a consortium of civic groups studying local traffic issues, said that members of the coalition distributed fliers to the approximately 30 homes in Ferry Point, advising them of the meeting.

“We wanted the community board to host the Department of City Planning regarding Ferry Point roads and the Hutchinson River Parkway study,” said Marano, who also sits on CB 10. “We wanted to hear from more people from Ferry Point; we don’t get over there enough…and we want the residents to know that they have an avenue to speak their minds.”

During the meeting, Marano, in his capacity as a board member, introduced a representative from the DCP who spoke about the agency’s Hutchinson River Parkway Corridor Study, which was recently completed.

Among the ideas for Ferry Point that might warrant further review are:

• swaping out an on-ramp to the Hutchinson River Parkway near the Whitestone Bridge for an off-ramp, to allow trucks to have better access to facilities in the community. DCP has already reached out to the state Department of Transportation on this, a spokesman stated.

• a ramp of some sort either at St. Joseph’s Way or nearby that would allow direct access to I-95 northbound.

• building another bridge over Westchester Creek to complement the Unionport Bridge

• improvements to Ring Road, located in Ferry Point Park, under the Whitestone Bridge, that will allow Pepsi trucks to leave the plant and access delivery routes to the north

• adding a greenstreet under the Bruckner Expressway at a traffic triangle, and making the area more attractive for bicyclists, and pedestrians, in light of the new development.

During the meeting, the DCP representative said that short-term components of the ideas could be handled by city agencies, but that larger recommendations might require collaboration with state agencies.

Some solutions proposed by DCP that do not require major capital expenditures are:

• improve signage to facilitate traffic circulation for trucks that need to utilize the local streets

• increase police presence in the areas south of East Tremont Avenue along the Hutchinson River Parkway corridor, including in Ferry Point.

While the meeting only included proposals and further study is necessary, attendee Dotti Poggi, of the Ferry Point Community Advocates, said that she was pleased by DCP study.

“I think in my case, in my area DCP did a good job,” said Poggi, who added that the agency looked into the areas of concern that she had, and considered changes.

Marano said he was pleased to see new faces from the Ferry Point community that he has not seen at previous meetings.

Reach Reporter Patrick Rocchio at (718) 260–4597. E-mail him at procchio@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @patrickfrocchio.