If this goes on, the Grand Concourse will be the cause of a lot of deaths. Emergency vehicles, he said, are getting stuck in traffic because a service lane is closed. Miguel Rivera, who has driven Metro Care ambulances in the borough for the past five years, said blocked traffic in the lane had forced him to backtrack once, and take side streets. This kind of delay, he added, can prove fatal to some patients. Residents add that there are no road signs to warn them that a lane has been closed.
Bus drivers complain that the temporary low road curbs disappeared under the snow last winter.
Other residents, like Porrata, say pedestrian safety could have been improved by simply lengthening the walk signal. If a layman understands that, the mayor should be able to understand. The Department of Transportation didn't do their job. Still more residents complained that the project was ugly, and that the DOT had not asked for their input. Ezell said that the DOT had only notified community leaders and transportation services the day before the project began.