'I think it's worse.' 1.1 mile stretch of Bailey Avenue undergoes redesign
The New York City Department of Transportation says the redesign was because 179 people were hurt on the stretch of road from 2020 to 2024, including 18 severe injuries, and two fatalities, which puts it in the top 10% of most dangerous streets in the Bronx.
Top Stories
A 1.1-mile long stretch of Bailey Avenue between Van Cortlandt Park South and West 225th Street in Kingsbridge Heights is wrapping up a major redesign, which has the neighborhood split.
"I think they're doing the bull***, that's what they're doing," said Claudio Fernandez, who lives in the area, when asked for his review.
"It's so bad," agreed Dolores De La Rosa, who lives on Bailey Avenue. "This is going to be inconvenient for pedestrians, and this is going to be bad for parking."
The New York City Department of Transportation says the redesign was because 179 people were hurt on the stretch of road from 2020 to 2024, including 18 severe injuries, and two fatalities, which puts it in the top 10% of most dangerous streets in the Bronx.
"You couldn't even drive past here without possibly getting into some kind of collision with another vehicle without any type of organization around here," said D'Andrew DeLeon, who lives in the neighborhood. "It was horrible."
While News 12 cameras saw plenty of cars double parked on the new, narrower street, the DOT says it hopes that by adding a bike path and cutting down the number of car lanes, it will be harder for drivers to speed.
"Personally, I think it's worse, because you have traffic tie-ups, people driving around traffic that they shouldn't be going around," said Nancy Blake, who also lives on Bailey.
The DOT also installed new pedestrian islands, and painted curb extensions, which it says are so people no longer need to walk as far to cross the streets.
"It seems pretty calm around here, so far not many accidents around here, so I guess it has provided some kind of usefulness," said DeLeon.
The DOT also says that even before it put in the bike lane, the stretch was seeing 150 cyclists every day, who had to swerve in and out of traffic in the road.
The hope is that now, they have a safer way to get popular places like Van Cortlandt Park, and the Broadway Bridge.
"You don't know when a bicycle is coming or a motorcycle is coming - they don't care about pedestrians," countered De La Rosa, who is not a fan of the bike lane.
According to the DOT, the project still has a little work left, and is not completely done yet.
