A fatal hit-and-run at Third Avenue and 55th Street has renewed debate over a redesign city officials first proposed in 2023 and that never broke ground. A 28-year-old nurse was struck and killed while crossing there on Aug. 29, prompting lawmakers and community leaders to again press for safety changes along the corridor.
The victim, identified as Jiaya Zheng, was crossing the two-mile stretch of Third Avenue beneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway when she was killed, according to Brooklyn Paper. The Department of Transportation’s proposed redesign included safer pedestrian crossings, parking-protected bike lanes, a traffic-calming road diet and other infrastructure upgrades, the outlet reported. Community Board 7 supported the concept early on, but the plan did not move forward.
A Redesign Shelved, Then Revived by Tragedy
Community Board 7 voted 32-1 in February 2024 to support changes that would have reduced Third Avenue from three moving lanes to two in each direction while adding parking-protected bike lanes and pedestrian islands, according to Streetsblog NYC. DOT officials said then that the plan could be implemented by summer or fall 2024, pending a traffic analysis. That timeline fell away: in April 2025, under then-Mayor Eric Adams, DOT delayed the plan, Brooklyn Paper reported.
Now, according to reporting from CBS New York, elected officials have sent an open letter to DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn urging the agency to treat safety along the corridor as an emergency. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes said roughly 17 people have been lost to traffic deaths on the corridor over the last decade, per CBS New York's account. Local leaders say they hope to revive the redesign effort now that a new administration is in place, and the outlet reports that the Mamdani administration is committed to advancing a redesign of Third Avenue that will reflect the needs of the community and enhance safety.
Residents Describe a Street Built Like a Highway
CBS New York reported that resident Ángela Azzolino said pedestrians can have difficulty crossing all eight lanes when signal timing does not allow enough time. She also described particular challenges for children, older adults and people with limited mobility.
The corridor serves two schools and carries freight and local traffic, as well as traffic entering the highway, CBS New York reported. Residents told the station that speeding and quick turns are concerns, and that oversized vehicles also use the avenue. Katie Walsh said the conditions make further delays unacceptable, according to the report.
Conflicting Death Tolls Point to a Persistent Danger
Just how many people have died on the corridor depends on which count you use. Brooklyn Paper cited Transportation Alternatives data putting the toll at 11 pedestrians and cyclists killed since 2014, while Gothamist reported 17 people killed in crashes on Third Avenue since 2016, including four bicyclists, seven pedestrians, three motorists and three motorcycle or moped drivers. A separate Gothamist report on the stalled redesign put the figure at 14 deaths between the relevant intersection and Prospect Avenue from 2018 through 2022, noting that toll was more than three times the death count on the equivalent stretch of nearby Fourth Avenue over the same period.
Beyond fatalities, the injury numbers are stark. Transportation Department data showed 87 people injured at the intersection of 60th Street and Third Avenue alone between 2018 and 2022, Gothamist reported, while Streetsblog NYC cited Transportation Alternatives figures showing more than 80 people died or suffered serious injuries in Third Avenue crashes over the past seven years. By contrast, Transportation Alternatives has said pedestrian injuries on Fourth Avenue dropped 29% after DOT installed a safety redesign there.
What the Redesign Would Actually Change
DOT's 2023 proposal included an option that would have reduced traffic lanes, added protected bike lanes and redesigned intersections for better visibility, according to Gothamist's reporting. A later version of the plan, detailed by Streetsblog NYC, called for removing one of three car lanes in each direction and installing a parking-protected curbside bike lane. Gothamist also reported that the plan would reduce traffic by one lane and add a bike lane from Prospect Avenue to 54th Street, with smaller improvements planned farther south.
City officials had already lowered the speed limit on Third Avenue to 25 mph in 2020 following the death of cyclist Clara Kang, Gothamist reported, but that change alone hasn't stopped the crashes. Sunset Park leaders have also warned that conditions could worsen as last-mile trucking facilities tied to companies like Amazon, FedEx and UPS continue to proliferate in the area, according to Streetsblog NYC.
What Nearby Street Changes and Truck Routes Show
There is a nearby example of a similar safety design: Streetsblog NYC reported that DOT installed a near-identical redesign on Fourth Avenue in 2012. Agency data cited by the outlet showed pedestrian injuries fell 29 percent in Sunset Park and 61 percent on the northern stretch in Park Slope; those results are from a separate corridor, not a projection for Third Avenue. On freight, Streetsblog NYC reported that the city’s final truck-route map added a mapped route on part of Second Avenue in Sunset Park, parallel to existing routes. The outlet noted that adding mapped truck-route miles does not itself mean more trucks: the routes are intended to direct where trucks travel. That map documents a nearby route, but does not provide a count of truck traffic on Third Avenue.
DOT Signals More Details Are Coming
A DOT spokesperson said no loss of life is acceptable on New York City streets, according to CBS New York's report, and Brooklyn Paper reported separately that the agency plans to share more information on a redesign in the coming months. Citywide, the broader safety picture has shown some improvement: traffic crashes killed 206 New Yorkers in 2025, an 18% drop from 2024 and a figure tied for the safest year since 1910, according to Transportation Alternatives. For Sunset Park residents who have watched the redesign stall for years, that citywide progress offers little comfort until Third Avenue itself changes.
