East Tremont Ave between Williamsbridge Road and Bruckner Boulevard is one the most dangerous corridors in New York City. According to the NYC Department of Transportation, hundreds of people were injured in car accidents on this specific segment between 2009 and 2013. Among them, 21 people were severely injured or died. Speeding is a major issue in this wide corridor with undefined moving and parking lanes. Crosswalks are mostly very long diagonals or are simply lacking, making it difficult for pedestrians to cross safely.
In 2015, as part of the Vision Zero Initiative, the DOT proposed to the Community Board to re-engineer East Tremont Ave to make it safer (see DOT proposal here). The proposal included a reduction from 4 to 2 traffic lines with a center turn lane as well as the construction of pedestrian islands. The proposal which didn’t include any bike lanes was turned down by the community board. However after a bicyclist died on this segment last June, the DOT by-passed the community board decision and confirmed it would implement the safety measures. (see more in Streetsblog).