Ocean Parkway is run by the state, so the city can't redesign it. What DOT has told the Council about roads it doesn't control

Ocean Parkway was laid out in the 19th century as a leafy promenade from Prospect Park to Coney Island. Today its center is a six-lane road known for speeding, and the city can't overhaul it on its own, Gothamist reported.

City data shows seven people were killed and 74 seriously injured in crashes on the parkway over the last five years, Gothamist reported. This month, a Lyft driver died after his car was rear-ended and pushed into another vehicle. In March 2025, a driver making a high-speed turn at Quentin Road killed a mother and two of her daughters two blocks away.

Like the FDR Drive and the West Side Highway, Ocean Parkway is technically run by the state. Major changes to its layout must go through the state Department of Transportation, not the city's. The state has made some changes, according to state officials cited by Gothamist. It lowered the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph in 2015, added turn restrictions on the service roads at nine intersections, replaced six stop signs with signals and installed 159 countdown pedestrian signals. A 2024 state law lets the city lower speed limits to 20 mph on many local streets, but not on major arterials like Ocean Parkway.

Why it matters to residents: Mayor Zohran Mamdani's DOT has been redesigning dangerous streets, including Third Avenue in Sunset Park this week. On state-run roads, residents have to press Albany as well as City Hall.

What our records add

DOT told the Council state roads are slower to fix. At the Transportation Committee's Oct. 27 Vision Zero hearing, Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez asked why DOT had redesigned major streets in her Bronx district but not the most dangerous intersections, where city streets meet Major Deegan Expressway ramps at Burnside Avenue, Fordham Road and 231st Street. A DOT official said those spots are complicated because others control them. The Fordham Road exit "is really controlled by" the state DOT, the official said. "It's their bridge and their highway, so we need them to come to the table" (2:50:26). Sanchez asked what she should push for when the state is at the table. DOT said protecting pedestrians, giving them enough time to cross and managing turning vehicles (2:50:45). We covered other parts of that hearing here.

No Council bill or resolution targets Ocean Parkway. We searched this term's legislation for Ocean Parkway, state roads and arterial speed limits and found none. The Council can pass resolutions asking Albany to act, as it has on other transportation issues, but none has been introduced for the parkway.

Who represents it. The neighborhoods along the parkway, including Kensington, Midwood, Homecrest and Gravesend, fall in Districts 39, 40, 44, 45, 47 and 48, according to our neighborhood map. At a Feb. 25 Fire and Emergency Management hearing, Council Member Simcha Felder called Ocean Parkway a state highway with a 25 mph limit. He used it as an example while criticizing the spread of speed cameras and lower speed limits, and asked the city for numbers on people injured by cyclists (1:04:12).

Cameras already watch the parkway. An analysis by the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives found one Audi got 70 camera tickets there last year, Gothamist reported.

What's next

Any redesign of the parkway's main roadway would have to come from the state DOT. Residents can report hazards through 311, and Council members can raise state-road problems with the state directly or by resolution. The Transportation Committee has no further Vision Zero hearing on its published calendar.