First Seaview Avenue, now Father Capodanno Boulevard.
The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) started another Staten Island street redesign, removing one travel lane in both directions on a segment of Father Capodanno Boulevard, which is a thoroughfare for motor vehicles, buses, and micromobility devices, such as e-bikes.
Both Democratic and Republican elected officials from Staten Island held a street-side press conference on Sept. 16, pleading with the DOT to stop the plan and leave the street with four lanes. The plan would also include adding a bike lane, according to Republican Assembly Member Michael Tannousis.
“The plan would make a portion of Father Capodanno Boulevard only one lane so that bike lanes could be added,” he said. “This plan would increase traffic during rush hour for drivers who utilize this road on a daily basis to travel off the island.”
According to the DOT, the project is being installed to address safety on a stretch of the corridor between Midland Avenue and Miller Field that the agency said has light traffic.
It is also near the site of a tragic collision in which a 61-year-old man died after being struck by a vehicle as he crossed the street in January 2024.
“This critical safety project addresses a wide, low traffic volume stretch of Father Capodanno Boulevard along which a 61-year old pedestrian was killed last year,” a spokesperson for DOT told amNewYork. “NYC DOT listened to community concerns about the original proposal and incorporated them into a revised project that will still address excessive speeding and reckless driving along this wide street by adding median tips and a protected bike lane.”
The DOT said, in addition to the deadly collision in 2024, there were four other crashes with injuries along this part of the roadway. Agency officials also said protected bike lanes help reduce crashes.
Father Capodanno Boulevard — named for Father Vincent Capodanno, a Staten Island native and military chaplain killed in the Vietnam War — is one of the few main arteries on Staten Island that leads directly to the Verrazzano Bridge into Brooklyn.
According to Tannousis, the DOT unveiled the plan at Staten Island Community Board 2 in May, where it was met with “unanimous opposition” from both politicians and board members.
“The reason for that opposition is because if DOT goes forward with this plan, it will change how Father Capodanno Boulevard is utilized,” the assembly member said. “It will take the road from a two-lane street to a one-way street. It will hold up traffic.”
Meanwhile, the DOT is also required to install 250 miles of protected bike lanes by 2026 per Local Law 195, implemented in 2019. As of January this year, only about 95 miles have been installed so far.
Politicians to DOT: ‘Please don’t help us’
Tannousis had a direct message for the DOT on Tuesday at the press conference.
“Please do not help us. Every time the Department of Transportation gets involved in safety measures, in a project, they make things worse,” he said.
State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, a Democrat representing parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn, also urged transportation officials to halt the plan.
“I am opposed to this plan, and I urge the DOT to actually listen to what everyone is saying. To listen to the people who know this community best,” she told the Staten Island Advance.
The Father Capodanno Boulevard redesign comes on the heels of another controversial street project on Staten Island: the redesign of Seaview Avenue that reduced the number of driving lanes in both directions from two to one, replacing one on each side with a parking lane next to curbside bike lanes.
Tannousis doubled down on his opposition to the ongoing street redesigns.
“People utilize [Father Capodanno Boulevard] to commute to work every single day, including NYC buses,” he said. “Now they are going to take it from two lanes to one lane. Our constituents now, they’re quality of life is going to be lower because they’re going to be sitting in traffic before they even get to the Verrazzano Bridge.”
