Stories from the ‘Boulevard of Death’: Staten Islanders share harrowing Hylan experiences

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — On Hylan Boulevard, the borough’s longest, deadliest roadway, something as simple as an evening stroll can result in devastating, life-altering injuries.

Dubbed the “Boulevard of Death” by transportation advocates, Hylan Boulevard claims more lives than any other street across the borough. That makes it easy to forget that the push for safety improvements is not just about those killed in traffic crashes, but also those who survived to live with the consequences.

Take Liz Morano, a 66-year-old Tottenville resident whose life was forever changed when she was hit by a car while crossing the boulevard.

“I remember everything vividly. It’s funny how things like that stay with you,” Morano said.

It was a chilly January evening in 2019 when Morano and her husband decided to take a walk around the neighborhood after dinner, something they had done countless times before.

The couple waited patiently at the corner of Hylan Boulevard and Bedell Avenue in their neighborhood for the crosswalk signal to change from a red hand to white pedestrian, indicating that it was safe for them to cross.

Sadly, even the most cautious of pedestrians can find themselves at the mercy of drivers.

The two began to cross Hylan, with Morano’s husband a few paces ahead, when the crosswalk signal on the quick-changing light switched from the white silhouette to a flashing red hand.

Just seconds later, a car traveling on Bedell Avenue whipped a left turn onto Hylan Boulevard, striking Morano and launching her into the air, she recalled.

“Just before she hit me, I remember the white crossing person changed to the flashing numbers, so I think she was trying to beat the light. She was afraid she was going to get stuck at the red light and she was driving too fast because she couldn’t stop in time. She hit me and I flew about 10 feet in the air,” Morano recalled.

The result of the collision? A shattered tibia that required four surgeries and months of physical therapy.

“I had to have a blood transfusion that night because I was bleeding. It didn’t break the skin, but I had severe bruising on my body, so I had internal bleeding. I was in the hospital for a week. I have a rod and screws in my leg. I went through months of physical therapy. So it was quite an experience, I would say,” she said.

Now six years removed from the incident, Morano still experiences pain her leg, something she’s had to accept will be with her for the rest of her life.

“I’m a runner. I still run, but when I run, my leg hurts. I still have a hard time with stairs,” Morano said. ”These injuries, they last forever."

A family forever changed

April 4 would have been Christine Wasnieski’s 58th birthday.

A loving mother and wife, Wasnieski was a selfless woman who gave her all to everyone — even in death as an organ donor.

She was killed on Nov. 13, 2024, when a Dodge Ram pickup truck turning onto Jefferson Avenue from Hylan Boulevard in Dongan Hills struck Wasnieski and her mother, who was 80 years old at the time.

“It was a sunny day,” Kyle Wasnieski, Christine’s husband, recounted.

Christine was escorting her mother to the orthopedic doctor around 11:45 a.m. that morning. The Eltingville resident parked her car on Jefferson and the pair was crossing the street within the crosswalk at the time of the fatal collision, according to the husband.

Although he is uncertain as to exactly what transpired, he believes his wife must have hit her head on impact with the ground as “she had no brain activity after that.”

“My mother-in-law, she broke her ankle, tailbone and eight ribs,” he added.

Christine’s mother remained in rehab as of early April.

“I tell you the truth, I can’t drive by there, I really can’t drive by there,” he explained.

While Kyle cannot find it in himself to pass that area, his daughter, Emily, can no longer drive on Hylan Boulevard since the loss of her mother, he said.

“She will drive completely out of her way just to avoid Hylan Boulevard,” he noted.

This tragedy has also influenced Kyle’s perception of motorist behavior on Staten Island streets.

In sharing a story of a recent trip to Aldi, Kyle explained that he was packing his truck with groceries and was returning from putting his cart away when a driver nearly missed him by a couple of inches due to inattention. In turn, Kyle approached the driver.

“I said ‘listen, you need to be more aware of what you’re doing because my wife was killed by somebody not paying attention.’ The guy’s jaw dropped,” said Kyle. “ I mean, I’ve definitely been more aware of people walking in the streets, people crossing in the crosswalks, but a lot of it, that’s just me, because it happened to me, it happened to my family and my kids are the same way, they’re more aware of what’s going on around them.”

He also noted that what “amazes” him is that despite the speed limit at 30 mph on Hylan Boulevard, people still speed.

“It is amazing how everybody is in such a rush to get nowhere fast,” Kyle remarked.

“Every day when I drive, I’m actually driving the speed limit or a little bit below it, A: because I don’t want to get a speed camera ticket, but you know what? I’m always looking out, because I don’t ever want to be in that position that I hit somebody,” he added.

For Kyle, the “saving grace” is knowing that his wife “is living in three different people.” Christine’s kidneys were given to a 53-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man, respectively; her liver went to a 56-year-old man.

“I know that she’s still around,” Kyle said of the organ donations.

A daughter lost

Terry Duffy, 59, whose daughter Justine Lauren Perez, 37, was fatally struck by a car on Hylan Boulevard in New Dorp, expressed his grief and frustration over the loss of his child, as well as the traffic conditions on the road.

On Halloween night at around 10:30 p.m., police responded to a report of a pedestrian struck in the vicinity of Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane in New Dorp.

Police later learned the victim was Perez.

Duffy shared fond memories of his daughter, highlighting her kind nature and desire to be an organ donor.

“Justine would give her last dollar to a stranger, that’s just the way she was,” he said. “She was very passionate about helping people and very kind and thoughtful.”

Due to an initial error in identifying her body, Perez’s wish to donate her organs to people in need was not fulfilled. This is something that has brought unbearable heartache and pain to her loved ones everyday for the last six months.

“My daughter could have been an organ donor. She had it on her license. Her beautiful eyes, her heart. Anything could have saved or helped one person,” said Duffy. “One day we were talking about donation and she asked, ‘Are you,’ I said, ‘Of course I am,’ she goes, ‘Yeah, me too.’”

According to Duffy, his daughter had been simply out shopping and was on the way to the bus stop to go to her sister’s house when she was struck by a car after getting trapped behind a fence on the median designed to discourage pedestrians from crossing mid-block.

He believes Perez was lugging her purchases and did not see the barrier initially.

An investigation by the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad determined that Perez was walking against traffic while in the left lane of Tottenville-bound Hylan Boulevard, next to the barrier, when she was hit by a 2012 Nissan Maxima.

The Nissan had the green light when it traveled through the intersection of New Dorp Lane, a source with knowledge of the investigation said at the time.

Duffy, a former Islander who grew up in Huguenot and lived in the borough for 51 years, said that traffic and motor vehicle safety on the borough have been issues for decades.

He was well aware of the dangers of Hylan, even before he lost his daughter on the boulevard.

“It’s just, it’s so overcrowded. There’s no regard for the people, citizens or the law. More importantly, drivers act like it’s like the wild west. They do what they want,” said Duffy. “On the boulevard, it was called the ‘Staten Island Wise Guy Lane’ the right on the shoulder on Hylan. The shoulder was wide enough, and drivers would, especially if there was traffic, say to themselves ‘We don’t gotta wait. There’s that extra lane.’ It was very big down by Cleveland Avenue and in Great Kills.”

Fear for students at nearby schools

Shane DeSilva, a former student and current student teacher at New Dorp High School, knows Hylan Boulevard well.

DeSilva, an Eltingville resident, has spent years navigating Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane, an intersection that in 2024 had the highest number of pedestrian and traffic collisions of any crossroads in the borough.

“I don’t even know what to do to fix it but I don’t think adding more lanes would solve the issue,” DeSilva answered, when asked what — if anything — could improve the intersection.

“I don’t know what I would recommend, honestly, or who I would even ask,” he continued.

From his earliest time at the school, DeSilva has been aware of Hylan Boulevard’s legacy as Staten Island’s deadliest road.

He recounted how, not long after starting at New Dorp, the school was rocked by the death of a student on the boulevard.

“When I was a freshman, I remember this one girl, she was a sophomore. I never met her, but she was hit on Hylan and died,” DeSilva explained.

DeSilva was referring to Jenna Daniels, a 15-year-old who was fatally struck by a pickup truck driver while crossing the street at Bayview Avenue and Hylan Boulevard in Prince’s Bay while on the way to a Sweet 16 party.

“Never knew her, but I still remember the moment of silence we had for her,” he continued.

Years later, DeSilva, who now travels the boulevard five days a week for work, says he still sees scars of the lives lost on Hylan Boulevard.

“On my way to New Dorp, on Nelson and Hylan, I always see a little memorial set up for this kid — Jordan Urbina, or Jay. He was driving his motorcycle and he was hit by a car trying to make a left turn,” DeSilva said, describing the 25-year-old who was fatally struck in 2023.

In his current position at New Dorp High School, DeSilva is all too thankful to say that the students have a good sense of navigating Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp.

While traffic conditions feel similar to his time as a student, DeSilva says he’s never had to warn one of his students to pay attention while crossing. Any slip-ups are usually corrected, quickly, by other students.

And while DeSilva says that the current infrastructure at New Dorp and Hylan feels sufficient to keep him, and others, safe, he contends that the biggest safety concern there is driver behavior, specifically when someone is trying to beat a signal.

“Everything is there, you know? You have the signs, the lights, the paint on the pavement, and the guards are there, that’s all good. Problem is, you still have to look behind you in case someone’s trying to turn when you’re about to cross. Some people they just want to get where they’re going,” DeSilva said, before describing a recent near-miss he had that was only stopped by one of the traffic agents stationed at the intersection.

“People really push their luck with the red lights and yellow lights.”