Two civic groups are coming together to address a pair of problematic intersections in their closely linked communities.
Spencer Estate Civic Association members have started a petition drive calling on the city to install a four-way stop on Spencer Drive and Stadium Avenue, an effort the neighboring Country Club Civic Association is expected to join.
Both groups are also interested in seeing the NYC Department of Transportation conduct another traffic study of Country Club Road for traffic headed towards Macdonough Place, with an eye towards alleviating morning rush-hour backups.
Some community members want the current ‘right turn only’ lane at the Country Club Road intersection made into a ‘straight or right turn’ lane, said Michael McNerney, CCCA president.
The group believes it may go a long way to alleviating backups that can stretch as far back as Kennellworth Place some mornings, said McNerney.
A spokeswoman from DOT stated the agency will study both intersections again.
The Spencer Drive and Stadium Avenue intersection was last studied in 2015, and the other was surveyed in 2010, she stated.
“Due to continuing community concerns DOT will reopen the turn study at Country Club Road and Macdonough Place this summer, and the all-way stop study at Stadium Avenue and Spencer Drive next spring,” she stated.
Councilman James Vacca is especially concerned about Spencer Drive and Stadium Avenue, which is a territorial dividing line between the two civic groups.
He said he first requested a four-way stop at the location in 2007.
“We have asked for the stop signs four times,” said Vacca of the intersection, adding “The problem that you have is that Stadium Avenue and Spencer Drive is a very awkward intersection…at an angle.”
Vacca said that he would be meeting with Nivardo Lopez, the new borough DOT commissioner, and that the intersection would be his top priority for the area.
“I don’t think the city understands the seriousness of the issues here,” he said.
Al Carena, SECA president, said that Stadium Avenue and Spencer Drive is an issue because the intersection in not at 90 degrees.
He said it is relatively common when motoring on Stadium Avenue to ease up and begin to travel through the intersection only to find traffic entering the intersection from Spencer Drive.
He said that his organization is committed to working with McNerney and the CCCA to address both intersections in their communities, though he is not aware personally of accidents at the intersection.
McNerney said that the Stadium and Spencer intersection is a jagged, diagonal cross with several different blind spots that cause visibility issues.
The crossroad is so problematic that motorists should just stop when at the intersection, whether they have a stop sign or not, said McNerney.
“It is not a plum cross,” he said of Stadium Avenue and Spencer Drive, adding that he sees no reason the CCCA will not support the SECA’s petition effort.
