Image Credit: New York City Department of Transportation
On September 26, 2024, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced the implementation of a camera enforcement program to monitor the speed of vehicles in select highway work zones. The program, launched in collaboration with the New York State Department of Transportation, only affects construction or maintenance zones on New York State-controlled access highways and parkways.
This initiative aims to respond to prior work zone intrusions, vehicles entering prohibited areas on highways and local roadways, and reduce speeding-related accidents. In 2024, the New York City Department of Transportation experienced seven work zone intrusions and four injuries. In both 2022 and 2023, the New York City Department of Transportation experienced 12 work zone intrusions, including six injuries in 2023. Between 2019 – 2021 there was an average of seven annual intrusions. Since 2009, 51 New York City Department of Transportation workers have been injured in work zone incidents and five have died from work zone-related events within the past 21 years.
The speed cameras are located in the following worksites: the Clearview Expressway in Queens, the West Shore Expressway on Staten Island, the Prospect Parkway in Brooklyn, and both the Bronx River Parkway and Major Deegan in the Bronx. As of now, the speed cameras have identified 210 speeding vehicles. A first speeding offense results in a $50 penalty, a second offense results in a $75 penalty, and if any subsequent offenses occur in an 18-month period following a prior offense there is a $100 penalty.
New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said, “Speeding ruins lives, and if you speed in a work zone, you will get caught. My message to drivers in work zones is simple: behave as if crews in work zones are members of your own family. Our crews do important work to keep you safe, and we need you to do your part to help keep them safe.”
By: Chelsea Ramjeawan (Chelsea is the CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2025.)