NYS Department of Transportation To Install Barriers On Bronx River Parkway

The New York State Department of Transportation has begun installing new concrete barriers along the stretch of the Bronx River Parkway where seven people were killed when their vehicle careened off the viaduct and crashed more than 60 feet to the ground. Two other segments along the Parkway will get similar treatment.

The 2-foot, 8-inch concrete slabs will be placed on the righthand side of the travel lanes to block a vehicle from continuing on toward the existing fence and vaulting off the elevated roadway.

The barriers will be the same as the concrete median that separates northbound and southbound traffic lanes on the parkway.

Work began Wednesday morning.

The barriers will go up on the viaduct over the Bronx Zoo and two others that cross over East Tremont Ave. and the Amtrak tracks.

State Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said her agency “shares community concerns about the safety of the Bronx River Parkway.”

It's better late than never, and it is far too sad to consider that these developments would not have occurred had seven people not been killed when their vehicle careened over the side of a viaduct on the Bronx River Parkway.

Yet, I can't help but be concerned that the addition of the concrete barrier will actually make things worse - narrowing the already narrow lanes even further. From how the report is worded, the new barriers will actually sit inside the concrete curb that helped fling the vehicle into the air rather than atop the curb - making it more unlikely that a vehicle could overtop the safety barriers and crash to the ground below.

Also, why did it take this particular accident to get action when there was similar crashes along this same stretch over the past several years that highlighted the importance of improving the safety barriers.