Pulaski Bridge Entrance Redesign
Long Island City, Queens, NY
2017
The overarching design move for the Pulaski Bridge Entrance Redesign is its re-alignment onto Jackson Avenue rather than 11th Street. Eleventh Street terminates shortly at the Queensboro Bridge while Jackson Avenue is a major thoroughfare that connects directly to Northern Boulevard. This realignment will make traffic flow more efficiently and reduce traffic on 11th Street, allowing for a complete redesign of 11th Street by removing one lane and adding a protected bike lane as well as a large pedestrian plaza where the current B32 and B63 bus stop is located. This plaza is designed as a mixing zone for bicycle traffic from the Pulaski Bridge and Jackson Avenue South, similar to the mixing zone on the waterfront at One Financial Center in Battery Park City. Trees will be planted on newly created pedestrian spaces and their alignment will hint at a bike path through the mixing zone. The reconfiguration of 11th Street and the addition of the pedestrian mixing zone plaza will also be a traffic calming measure by creating a large chicane. The pedestrian crossings will also be shortened. A realignment of 11th Street with Jackson Avenue south of the Pulaski Bridge will further increase traffic flow efficiency and have the added benefit of making traffic flow more obvious to motorists, which should reduce conflicts and accidents.
The final alteration will be the reconfiguration of exit ramps on the Pulaski Bridge. To the east, vehicular off-ramps will be reduced by extending the sidewalk in front of new residential development. Another pedestrian plaza will be created, reducing traffic and allowing for pedestrians to have a safer and shorter crossing distance. To the west, the protected bike lane will be realigned to continue in a straight path towards the newly created pedestrian mixing zone on 11th Street. This will not only make it easier to access the bridge from 11th Street, it will also make bicycle traffic flow more efficient and safer.