For years, parents and school staff have raised concerns about the intersection at the rear entrance of P.S. 7 Milton Fein School in Kingsbridge.
“There have been numerous serious accidents,” said principal Frank Patterson. “It’s hard to see as you’re coming through here, and cars would come through and would get T-boned.”
Last week, there was finally good news to report, in the form of a four-way stop at the intersection of Corlear Avenue and W. 232nd Street.
Up until now, there were only stop signs on 232nd Street, making the crossing treacherous for students headed to and from the elementary school.
A collision occurred at the intersection just last month, said Councilman Andrew Cohen at a press conference at the intersection held Wednesday, January 11.
However, since recent NYC Department of Transportation data showed pedestrian counts had gone up and there have been slightly more crashes in the area, Cohen said he was able to get the additional stop signs approved.
The new four-way stop was a common sense move to make the high traffic intersection safer, he said.
“This has honestly been a passion of mine for the three years I’ve been in office since the principal brought it to my attention,” Cohen told those on hand for the morning event.
Patterson said the request went back 40 years and several principals, but did not become reality until Cohen took on the problem.
“Our only wish is that it doesn’t take as long to get a crossing guard for the intersection, because we want that, too,” Patterson said.
Cohen said the city council had pledged to fund crossing guards when needed, but said the task of assigning such guards was that of the 50th Precinct.
Patterson said a request for a guard had already been submitted to the precinct.
DOT Bronx Acting Commissioner Nivardo Lopez said safety is a big priority for the DOT, especially under the mayor’s Vision Zero program.
“We know this is a location with a lot of schools and a very robust elderly population, so we want to make sure this intersection and all intersections in the community are safe,” Lopez said.
P.S. 7 Parent Teacher Association vice-president Richard Espinal, who attended the event with his 9-year-old daughter, Viana, a student at the school, thanked Cohen and Patterson for making the intersection safer.
“Not to aggrandize the moment because we are talking about a stop sign, but this has been an important issue for the parents,” Espinal said.
