Keep Kent Avenue 2-Ways

We, the undersigned,

The residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn strongly object to the DOT's plan to change Kent Avenue from a two-way into a one-way street.

We urge you to keep Kent Avenue a two-way roadway.

We firmly believe that, by changing Kent Avenue, from a two-way street to one-way, will seriously endanger the health and well being of the community's residents, especially children.

Suddenly limiting Kent Avenue's function and creating a new truck route through the residential streets of Williamsburg will force all, formally southbound, traffic from Kent Avenue onto our neighborhood's much narrower side streets, wreaking havoc on the health and safety of its inhabitants.

The proposed truck route via North 11th street is one and half blocks from the Automotive High School and one block from McCarren Park, Williamsburg's largest city park. Not to mention, trucks will need to cross Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg's main pedestrian drag.

As far as our southbound streets are concerned, currently Wythe Avenue is the only direct route to the BQE, so would therefore become the de facto southbound route for all traffic to the BQE. Wythe Avenue is presently home to two preschools, one public school and two playgrounds. Besides the proximity of all the exhaust, sound and vibration to homes, on this new route, the movement of children across the streets creates an extremely high-level of risk for accident. We believe that by diverting traffic through the neighborhood, with such a high number of children, would be completely reckless of the DOT.

We understand your desire to accommodate bicyclists, which many of us are, with children in tow. We are not against bike lanes. We are also aware that the businesses on Kent Avenue are suffering since the removal of their loading zones and parking. But this new rerouting of traffic cannot be at the expense of the health and safety of the entire neighborhood's residents in order to take a load off of Kent Avenue.

Our suggestion is to keep Kent Avenue two-way with one bike lane. Add a second bike lane on another neighborhood street, perhaps Wythe Ave, Driggs, Roebling or Havemeyer, in order to spread out the bike traffic.

Clearly adding two bike lanes to Kent Avenue destroys its usability, for both motorists and businesses, so the logical answer is to re-look at putting in two bike lanes. Making Kent Avenue a one-way street is not the answer, surely causing a hazard to the residents of NYC's fastest changing neighborhood.

Thank you for your time and we hope you can keep our neighborhood safe.

We, the undersigned,

The residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn strongly object to the DOT's plan to change Kent Avenue from a two-way into a one-way street.

We urge you to keep Kent Avenue a two-way roadway.

We firmly believe that, by changing Kent Avenue, from a two-way street to one-way, will seriously endanger the health and well being of the community's residents, especially children.

Suddenly limiting Kent Avenue's function and creating a new truck route through the residential streets of Williamsburg will force all, formally southbound, traffic from Kent Avenue onto our neighborhood's much narrower side streets, wreaking havoc on the health and safety of its inhabitants.

The proposed truck route via North 11th street is one and half blocks from the Automotive High School and one block from McCarren Park, Williamsburg's largest city park. Not to mention, trucks will need to cross Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg's main pedestrian drag.

As far as our southbound streets are concerned, currently Wythe Avenue is the only direct route to the BQE, so would therefore become the de facto southbound route for all traffic to the BQE. Wythe Avenue is presently home to two preschools, one public school and two playgrounds. Besides the proximity of all the exhaust, sound and vibration to homes, on this new route, the movement of children across the streets creates an extremely high-level of risk for accident. We believe that by diverting traffic through the neighborhood, with such a high number of children, would be completely reckless of the DOT.

We understand your desire to accommodate bicyclists, which many of us are, with children in tow. We are not against bike lanes. We are also aware that the businesses on Kent Avenue are suffering since the removal of their loading zones and parking. But this new rerouting of traffic cannot be at the expense of the health and safety of the entire neighborhood's residents in order to take a load off of Kent Avenue.

Our suggestion is to keep Kent Avenue two-way with one bike lane. Add a second bike lane on another neighborhood street, perhaps Wythe Ave, Driggs, Roebling or Havemeyer, in order to spread out the bike traffic.

Clearly adding two bike lanes to Kent Avenue destroys its usability, for both motorists and businesses, so the logical answer is to re-look at putting in two bike lanes. Making Kent Avenue a one-way street is not the answer, surely causing a hazard to the residents of NYC's fastest changing neighborhood.

Thank you for your time and we hope you can keep our neighborhood safe.

We, the undersigned,

The residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn strongly object to the DOT's plan to change Kent Avenue from a two-way into a one-way street.

We urge you to keep Kent Avenue a two-way roadway.

We firmly believe that, by changing Kent Avenue, from a two-way street to one-way, will seriously endanger the health and well being of the community's residents, especially children.

Suddenly limiting Kent Avenue's function and creating a new truck route through the residential streets of Williamsburg will force all, formally southbound, traffic from Kent Avenue onto our neighborhood's much narrower side streets, wreaking havoc on the health and safety of its inhabitants.

The proposed truck route via North 11th street is one and half blocks from the Automotive High School and one block from McCarren Park, Williamsburg's largest city park. Not to mention, trucks will need to cross Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg's main pedestrian drag.

As far as our southbound streets are concerned, currently Wythe Avenue is the only direct route to the BQE, so would therefore become the de facto southbound route for all traffic to the BQE. Wythe Avenue is presently home to two preschools, one public school and two playgrounds. Besides the proximity of all the exhaust, sound and vibration to homes, on this new route, the movement of children across the streets creates an extremely high-level of risk for accident. We believe that by diverting traffic through the neighborhood, with such a high number of children, would be completely reckless of the DOT.

We understand your desire to accommodate bicyclists, which many of us are, with children in tow. We are not against bike lanes. We are also aware that the businesses on Kent Avenue are suffering since the removal of their loading zones and parking. But this new rerouting of traffic cannot be at the expense of the health and safety of the entire neighborhood%u2019s residents in order to take a load off of Kent Avenue.

Our suggestion is to keep Kent Avenue two-way with one bike lane. Add a second bike lane on another neighborhood street, perhaps Wythe Ave, Driggs, Roebling or Havemeyer, in order to spread out the bike traffic.

Clearly adding two bike lanes to Kent Avenue destroys its usability, for both motorists and businesses, so the logical answer is to re-look at putting in two bike lanes. Making Kent Avenue a one-way street is not the answer, surely causing a hazard to the residents of NYC's fastest changing neighborhood.

Thank you for your time and we hope you can keep our neighborhood safe,