The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the “substantial” completion of the East Gun Hill Road Bus Priority and Safety Project on Tuesday — which includes the redesign of more than 20 intersections to improve safety and calm traffic.
“This holistic redesign makes East Gun Hill Road both safer and more efficient by prioritizing bus speeds for 40,000 daily riders and redesigning more than two dozen intersections,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez.
The three corridors covered in the safety project include the sections along East Gun Hill Road between Bainbridge to Webster avenues, Webster Avenue to White Plains Road and White Plains Road to Bartow Avenue.
According to DOT, the department redesigned the 3.1-mile stretch to add new bus loading zones, metered parking and offset, center-running and curbside bus lanes. Additionally at two locations — one on East Gun Hill Road between Hull and Decatur avenues and the other between Tyron Avenue and Kings College Place — the DOT installed concrete bus boarding islands to improve safety.
The agency estimates that the coverage zone along Gun Hill Road serves approximately 40,000 bus riders daily who take the Bx28 and Bx38 routes — which also connect commuters and travelers to the 2, 4, 5 and D subway lines in the area.
“Ensuring road safety for pedestrians and motorists creates a need for dedicated bus lanes and turning bays across New York City, especially here in the Bronx,” state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said. “Bus lanes make public transportation more efficient by improving the reliability of a necessary resource for our communities, encouraging ridership of public transportation while decreasing fuel emissions, as well as making accessibility a priority.”
The Gun Hill Road area has been a hotspot for transit renovation this year.
This summer, the MTA chose developer Madison Capital for the Bronx’s first electric bus charging station at the Gun Hill Road Depot — nearly one year after the agency put out a Request for Proposals for the project in 2022. Madison Capital was approved in July to develop 550,000 square feet of the MTA-owned land, adjacent to I-95, and build the core and shell for the charging station.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
