By Cynthia Koons
State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) said it was his correspondence with Queens Borough Department of Transportation Commissioner Constance Moran that led to the halting of the project, while Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said Monday that it was his meeting with City Commissioner Iris Weinshall that stalled the roadwork.Either way Craig Chin, a city DOT spokesman, said the agency has taken the road widening off the table indefinitely while it plans to draw up a plan that would both alleviate congestion and be more satisfactory for area residents.Seven homeowners stood to lose parts of their front lawns in the proposed widening of the congested road that serves as the main artery between the Whitestone Expressway, College Point and north Flushing. It has been on the books since 2000, when Community Board 7 asked the DOT to consider adding a lane to 20th Avenue between Parsons Boulevard and 144th Street, Moran said in a letter to Padavan.om there, the DOT and Department of Design and Construction brought drafts to a Community Board 7 meeting in 2003, where it became evident that the community would not be pleased if angled parking were taken from 144th Street in front of George Harvey Park and front yards were encroached upon.Initially, the city planned to take 11 feet from the seven houses on the north side of the street. In subsequent revisions of the plan, that number was trimmed to three feet, Chin said.”They were ready to go out to bid. They had surveyors there and everything,” Padavan said. “They kept trying to accommodate the concerns of those homeowners losing their yards.” But eventually the agency decided that the creation of a four-foot lane for rush hour traffic would not accommodate or ease the heavy congestion on 20th Avenue. 's a bad project, period,” said Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who chairs the City Council Transportation Committee. “I don't demand that the DOT come out and admit that it's a bad project. The fact is that the DOT has delayed, has deferred and reduced the project many times already.”Avella said it was his understanding, judging by the conversation he had with Weinshall early last week, that the agency was going to delay the project until all of the homeowners were consulted.”I will be setting up a meeting with the traffic coalition that we had with the community leaders of Whitestone, College Point and Mitchell Linden,” Avella said. He wants to explain a plan to them that would keep the angled parking at the park and take only three feet from the seven affected property owners.”Theoretically if the homeowners are agreeable to this modified version, then we'll go ahead,” he said.Liu said regardless of who is responsible for halting the project, the community should applaud the fact that it is not going forward. “I know there's a disagreement over whose credit it is, but who cares?” he said, adding that he had coordinated with Padavan in asking the city to not expand the road. “The fact is it's a bad project.”Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
