Starting in September, New York City will lower the vehicle speed limit for 250 road sections, including around Open Street, from 25 mph to under 20 mph.
According to the New York City Transit Authority, as part of the preparation of enforcement regulations for ‘Sammy’s Law’, which was included in the New York State budget for fiscal year 2025 and has been signed by the governor, a regulation to lower speed limits in some areas starting in September after a 60-day public hearing period.
The plan is to operate until the end of 2025. “Areas where the speed limit will be lowered to 20 mph include open streets, shared streets, and areas around schools,” said Idanis Rodriguez, director of transportation. “We also plan to implement Regional Slow Zones in certain sections of each borough where the speed limit will be reduced to 10 mph.”
According to the implementation plan sections announced by the City of Queens, the sections in Queens where the new rules will be implemented are 112th Street (34th-37th Avenues), 47th Avenue (108th-111th Streets), 155th Street (108th-109th Avenues), 167th Street (108th Road-109th Avenue), Union Hall Street (109th-110th Avenues), 144th Street (88th Avenue-88th Road), 143rd Street (Linden Boulevard-115th Avenue), 105th Street (35th-37th Avenues), and 31st Avenue (60th-61st Streets).
Regarding this, the New York City government said, “The passage of the Sammy Act was the first step toward creating safer roads, and now that it is about to be fully implemented, we expect that it will create an environment where pedestrians can walk more safely.”