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Car Ban Hits Times Square, Herald Square Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the start of the city's "Greenlight for Midtown" program, which involves banning vehicles on Broadway between 42nd and 47th Streets (by Times Square) and between 33rd and 35th Street (by Herald Square). The city hopes that traffic congestion can be reduced by "reconnecting the street grid on 6th and 7th Avenues and giving space to pedestrians on Broadway." According to the Department of Transportation, the plan will result in "Traffic lights with up to 66% more green time," "Significant travel time improvements on Sixth and Seventh Avenues," "Safer and simpler crossings for pedestrians," and "Faster bus speeds for 70,000 daily riders."

The DOT also offers stats like "356,000 people walk through Times Square each day on overflowing sidewalks," "Traffic on Broadway moves on average only 4.2 miles per hour," and "Broadway has 137% more traffic crashes here than the nearby Avenues." DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan even calls Times Square a "human slalom course," and says, "[Broadway's irregular, diagonal path] contradicts the order of the city's grid. We're really trying to knit the city back together and fix something that's been broken for 200 years."

Back in February, when the program was announced, Mayor Bloomberg said, "By making targeted adjustments at Broadway's two main pinch points, we believe we can ease traffic congestion throughout the Midtown grid. We are going to closely monitor the results to determine if this pilot works and should be extended beyond its trial period." (A report will come out in December.)

The streets will be closed tomorrow and work will continue on the public plazas—the city hopes they'll be complete in August. Here are more details about "Greenlight for Midtown."

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Comments [rss]

  • r1b2

    This is so exciting. When can we expect this on other streets? How about Flatbush Avenue?

  • longacre

    I'm excited. I hope they extend it to Central Park. I'm a little worried, however, about the public reaction the first time a crazy cabby or elderly heart attack victim careens into one of these pedestrian areas...because it's only a matter of time before it happens.

  • Quidnam

    That's a risk most anywhere there is a sidewalk or crosswalk with a number of pedestrians. With bollards protecting the Broadway space and a more regularized traffic pattern along the street grid, it is if anything safer for pedestrians.

  • Spirit of 76

    Quite right. Who's to say the same thing couldn't happen on a packed Times Square sidewalk on any given day? That we haven't seen carnage there on a regular basis indicates that it's an insignificant risk.

  • thefacts

    Broadway's direction and orientation are historic, handed down to us by the Indians who used it as their primary route for over a thousand years. Now we got this elitist, upper-crust, hippy DOT commissioner destroying our history and traditions.

    I wonder if she'll ride her chauffeured-driven limousine that you and I pay for down the thoroughfare on a test run.

    Before her sycophants here rabidly respond, please address the chauffeured-limo issue!

    (You know, the same limo she got pulled over in on the NYS Thruway for speeding at around 90 mph using her lights and sirens. Just like in Orwell's Animal Farm, where the Head Pig drives around in a limo, and the sycophants and toadies all applaud the Great Leader.)

    Welcome to the People's Republic of SadikKhanistan. Toadies, get on your knees and hail the Great Leader, Comrade Janette.

  • thefacts

    Rhonda718, Spirit76, Starry Gordon: Thanks for the replies to my comment.

    Now, when are you going to address the fact that Sadik-Khan tells you to ride a bike, take a train, walk - while she racks up speeding tickets in her chauffeured limo that taxpayers pay for?

    Your silence is more deafening than her hypocrisy. Are you really that obsequious or have I boxed you into a corner?

    Awaiting your reply,

    TheFacts

  • Liam

    Awaiting your reply,

    TheFacts

    you're hilarious. Look at you go. Do you have a totally rad blog where you bitch about traffic changes that we can check out? I'd totally follow that shit.

  • thefacts

    Not a very successful attempt at ducking the question.

    Why am I not surprised?

    Apparently, just like in Animal Farm, your Head Pig, JSK, being driven around in her limo gets accolades from her lackies and toadies in the barnyard like you who must walk. \

    Ever read the book? You should.

  • Spirit of 76

    Maybe from now on, we'll just call you "muddlethefacts."

    You claim that she got caught once and all of a sudden, it becomes, "racks up speeding tickets." You say it was on the Thruway then say she's hypocritical for not walking, biking or taking a train. How is one supposed to do any of that on the Thruway? Seems quite illegal to me. The only person boxed in is you, in the tiny space of your mind. Keep yourself planted in front of the computer while the rest of us enjoy healthy activities like walking, jogging and riding that two-wheeled contraption that you admit does nothing but collect dust and cobwebs in your home. The rest of the world will move forward with more Summer Streets, more Williamsburg Walks, more bike lanes. "thefacts" will raise his voice to the heavens to wail, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me???"

    Ta ta. I'm off to Broadway to enjoy a good, long walk up to Central Park. Pity you can't enjoy being outside without your two tons of steel, glass and rubber protecting you.

  • thefacts

    My Lord, you are dense.

    One more time: Let her take mass transit to Albany, like she tells me and her toadies like you to do!

  • Spirit of 76

    [Ronald Reagan] There you go again. [/Ronald Reagan].

    How do you know she doesn't? Again, instead of ignoring the challenge, please show how being ticketed once means she uses a car with driver every time she goes to Albany and how that one ticket equates to "racking them up." You accuse others of not responding to your points, but when challenged on your own lies and exaggerations, you suddenly act like you didn't see the question. Also, please point out how she's in a "limousine." Just because she's in a car with a driver? I guess that means everybody who takes a taxi is in a limousine. Hey cabbie, where's my wet bar?

    I just had a great day walking around on Broadway, Central Park and the Hudson River Park. You should try it sometime. But I suppose that would be against your auto-centric religion.

  • thefacts

    "How do you know she doesn't?" = Sophism at its basest.

  • starrygordon

    Yes, the Indians always got on Broadway and headed downtown. When they got to Battery Park, not having any way of going back, they fell in the water and drowned. After awhile there were no Indians left, which is why you don't see them any more. If only they had had bicycles! Then they could have taken the West Side or East Side bike paths uptown, and instead of drowning, broken their necks falling over strollers, dog-walkers, and jogging bond salesmen.

  • rhonda718

    And now we're reverting part of Broadway back to how it was used for thousands of years: a historic walking trail.

    Seriously, what is it about conservatives who cling to tradition (with tradition being a narrowly defined recent defintion of something) while ignoring anything before or after that?

  • Spirit of 76

    You should have seen some people commenting on this topic claiming that traffic may be a problem, but it's what gives NYC its "unique flavor" and we should do everything we can to keep that.

    But you know, they're right. We should go back to the way things used to be. Everybody get out of the city. We're turning it back into woodlands. Right after we destroy most of the shoreline, which is mostly landfill, including all the land under Battery Park and Battery Park City.

  • RachelG

    See what happens when Mayor Mike doesn't get his way? Good idea or not, why do I feel like this is punishment for defeating his congestion pricing plan?

  • MrManhattan

    Actually, more of a consolation prize after having our plan to control our streets defeated by some upstate hicks.

    Hopefully, someday we'll be able to make necessary changes in the city without having to ask "mother may I?" from Albany. Till then, getting a few blocks of Broadway back will have to suffice.

  • felixthecat2

    It has only congested the other streets and cause more of a public safety issue for drivers and pedestrians.

  • Fritzdecat

    "And now Bloomberg wants to turn NY into Amsterdam."

    Sounds good to me then we can get legally high and ride bikes everywhere

  • Gwinny

    Don't forget legalized prostitution!

    Seriously, I think this is a great idea on paper and am hopeful it works.

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