You are reading

Flushing Busway Gets the Green Light After Judge Strikes Down Opponents’ Appeal

Main Street in Flushing will be made into a busway this month (Google Maps)

Jan. 5, 2021 By Michael Dorgan

A last-ditch effort to prevent the city from installing a controversial new busway on Main Street in Flushing was struck down by a Queens Supreme Court judge Tuesday.

Judge Kevin Kerrigan denied an appeal against the Dept. of Transportation which sought to stop the agency from converting a stretch of Main Street into a busway under a 1-year pilot program.

The Article 78 proceeding had been filed by the Flushing Chinese Business Association (FCBA) whose members opposed the busway, arguing that it would reduce private traffic into the area and cut into their bottom line.

However, Kerrigan said that the FCBA had failed to convince the court that the busway would deter customers from coming to the busy shopping zone and thus denied the appeal. He also lifted a temporary restraining order that had postponed the implementation of the busway since Nov. 16.

The judge said that the FCBA’s appeal focused mostly on the issue of access to the new World Mall parking garage.

The FCBA in its lawsuit argued that the new busway would force private vehicles to go around the block instead of being able to drive straight through Main Street in order to get to the parking entrance.

They said the detour would be such an inconvenience that shoppers would stay away from the area and businesses would be crippled as a result.

“Petitioners have failed to show any evidence that… this would discourage people from shopping at the location or adversely affect merchants on Main Street,” Kerrigan wrote.

The new busway, which the MTA says will speed up service, will run 0.6 miles along Main Street from Northern Boulevard to Sanford Avenue. Through traffic would be limited to buses, trucks and emergency vehicles while private vehicles would only be permitted to use the stretch for pick-ups or drop-offs.

The MTA said the layout will improve slow and unpredictable bus speeds for the thousands of people who use buses that traverse the route each day.

The Riders Alliance, a public transport advocacy group, welcomed the court ruling.

“Today’s decision is a huge victory for 150,000 bus riders across Queens and the Bronx,” said Jolyse Race, a senior advisor with the group.

“Citywide, judges have now ruled decisively that when riders win well-deserved priority on busy streets, opponents can’t sue and get their way.”

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Suspect wanted for shoving E train rider onto the tracks at Sutphin Boulevard station in Jamaica: NYPD

Police from the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica and Transit District 20 are looking for a suspect who shoved an E train rider onto the tracks at the Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue–JFK Airport subway station on Thursday morning.

The 39-year-old victim was standing on the southbound platform at around 4:40 a.m. when a stranger approached him and pushed him onto the track bed below in an unprovoked attack, police said Friday. The suspect fled the station onto Sutphin Boulevard and ran off in an unknown direction. EMS responded to the scene and transported the injured man to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.

Bellerose man arrested in fatal collision that killed his neighbor on Jericho Turnpike in December: NYPD

A Bellerose man was arrested and booked at the 105th Precinct in Queens Village on Tuesday, May 20, five months after he struck and killed his 78-year-old neighbor with his vehicle at the intersection of Jericho Turnpike and 91st Avenue.

The fatal collision occurred just after 6:40 p.m. on Saturday, December 14, 2024, as Benjamin Jean-Baptiste, 39, of Ontario Road, was behind the wheel of a 2010 Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling northbound on 91st Avenue.

Robbery suspect flees courthouse mid-trial, convicted of holding woman at knifepoint in Flushing: DA

A Flushing fugitive failed to return to court before trial and was convicted in absentia on Monday for a violent armed robbery of a young woman at her Parsons Boulevard apartment with two accomplices in 2022.

Michael Fan, 25, of Farrington Street, was found guilty of multiple burglary and robbery counts and an unlawful imprisonment charge before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gary Miret on May 19.