Repairs to sidewalks in and around the South Jamaica II Houses were completed last week in a ceremony attended by a bevy of local elected officials and city representatives.
More than 12,000 square feet of sidewalk pathways were redone during the project that began in November. Crews also upgraded pedestrian ramps at three corners and repaired approximately 523 linear feet of curb. The six-week project removed a host of trip hazards that the more than 3,000 residents of the complex faced every day.
State Senators Leroy Comrie and James Sanders joined Councilman Ruben Wills and Assemblywoman Vivian Cook, along with other attendees, in shoveling one final load of top soil into tree pits near the South Jamaica II Houses to mark the project’s completion.
According to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Queens borough commissioner, Nicole Garcia, the project is part of the city’s renewed commitment to repairing sidewalks citywide. The city more than doubled its annual sidewalk repair Queens budget to $46 million (it had been $20 million), including $3 million in repairs focused on sidewalk repairs at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complexes such as the South Jamaica II Houses.
“For DOT, that translated into millions of dollars dedicated to improving the quality of life for New York City residents by providing safer sidewalks,” Garcia said. “We owe nothing less to the thousands of New Yorkers who call the Jamaica Houses home.”
The project was completed by the city’s Department of Design and Construction in conjunction with the DOT and the NYCHA. More than 12,000 miles of sidewalk across the five boroughs fall under the jurisdiction of the DOT.
