Results tagged “departmentoftransportation”

If it's almost Thanksgiving, it means the city is gearing up the influx of visitors to the city for the holidays. The Department of Transportation released its calendar of "Gridlock Alert Days" (PDF) and its "Holiday Traffic Mitigation Plan" (PDF)—above all, the DOT recommends that people take mass transit. Today is the first Gridlock Alert Day, as is Thanksgiving next week; next month, the Gridlock Alert Days are December 2 (Rockefeller tree lighting), 4, 11, 16, 17, 18 and 23.

Since the Department of Transportation can't fix all the cracked sidewalks in the city at once, they came up with a new system in which locals can pay their way to the front of the fix line. First off, even though sidewalks are city property, they are the responsibility of homeowners, who can be held liable for injuries. When a homeowner is issued a violation, they have to repair the sidewalk via a private contractor, or through the DOT, which may take a while.

The Department of Transportation has agreed to relegate space on the middle deck of the Staten Island Ferry to become a designated "Quiet Zone." The SI Advance says that the area will be a place where passengers can seek solace to "avoid loud cell phone conversations, general chatter and ferryboat preachers who seek a captive audience." For now the Quiet Zones will be voluntary and self-policed, but City Councilman Ken Mitchell is drafting legislation for the DOT and NYPD to be able to enforce the new rules as well. Mitchell and State Senator Diane Savino pushed for the areas, similar to ones employed on Amtrak trains, because Staten Islanders face the longest average commute in the nation. After a survey went out to Ferry riders asking about their commutes, Savino says, "Everyone of them said that they wanted some place to go on the boat where they could go and just contemplate their life." The signs will be posted on the Bridge Deck of the three newest Molinari-class ferryboats; Savoy says she is brainstorming how to make the plan work for older ferry models as well.

The DOT has brought some newly commissioned artwork to the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, unveiled earlier this week and up for 11 months. 1010Wins notes that it features "barrels as seats with birdhouses above"—which sounds like a pretty risky design for the humans! However, the DOT sent us these photos and it doesn't really look like the old wine barrels are made for lounging about. If you wanna give it a shot, however, you can find the Atom Cianfarani installation at Columbia and Halleck streets. We're sure the squirrels and pigeons will are having a field day over there. The NY Post has a photo of another DOT piece that was unveiled in the Bronx, "an abstract sculpture made of plywood and resembling a stack of children's building blocks and star-shaped toys," and they note that three more sculptures will go up this year (on the UWS, Queens Plaza and Lefferts Gardens).

Guess the dealers who are opting out of the "cash for clunkers" program aren't missing that much: U.S. DOT Secretary Roy LaHood announced the program will end on Monday at 8 p.m. LaHood said, "This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work. At the same time, we’ve been able to take old, polluting cars off the road and help consumers purchase fuel efficient vehicles," and added, "We don't want to run out of money. And I want to be able to substantiate what I'm saying here. If you do a deal with us, you submit the paperwork, you will be paid." The program was originally budgeted with $1 billion of government money, but was so successful that the government put another $2 billion into the program.

       

With seven blocks along Broadway in Times Square and Herald Square closed to vehicular traffic for pedestrian promenading pleasure (oh, and to ease traffic congestion too) on Sunday, New Yorkers and tourists alike have been testing out the suddenly clear streets. The Broadway pedestrian plazas are between 42nd and 47th Streets and between 33rd and 35th Streets, and in the Times Square stretch, there were lawn chairs for perambulators.

Here's the first peek at the new look of Times Square without a vehicle in sight as part of the "Greenlight for Midtown" program, which began today. The early shot looking down Broadway and Seventh Avenue from 45th Street comes from Streetsblog, which says, "It's obviously way too soon to judge how this remarkable experiment is working but today, at least, car-free Broadway appears to be a huge hit. "

      

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."

Since December 2007, the Department of Transportation—under the Bush administration—was proposing to auction off airline take off and landing times, many criticized the plan, most vocally Senator Chuck Schumer, who said, "Selling these slots to the highest bidder would be an onerous sky tax, plain and simple." Now, the DOT (under Obama) has decided to cancel the idea, based on the criticism from lawmakers, agencies (like the Port Authority) and airlines alike. The plan was well-intentioned, because the DOT was trying to address congestion at the three area airports, but the waning economy help kill the plan. Transportation Secretary Roy LaHood said, "We're still serious about tackling aviation congestion in the New York region. I'll be talking with airline, airport and consumer stakeholders, as well as elected officials, over the summer about the best ways to move forward." The International Air Transport Association said it was happy about the outcome, but added, "It is a shame the government and industry had to waste 16 months debating this ill-conceived plan."

There appears to be serious consideration being given to rerouting the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade so that the glowing neon spectrum of Times Square would be replaced by the yawning canyon of white-collar drudgery that defines Sixth Avenue. The Department of Transportation confirmed yesterday's reports that the parade may call off its right turn off Columbus Circle onto Broadway and continue over to the Avenue of Americas.

The Staten Island Advance reports on the city's efforts to remove homeless people from the St. George Ferry Terminal. About 75 have been living at the terminal this winter, "Though police and city officials were reluctant to chase them into the bitter cold, their presence has become a security and public health issue, sources say, with the eruption of fights and complaints of public defecation."

The city recommends that residents contact 311 for non-emergency services, such as reporting a broken streetlight. However, it doesn't mean a solution will appear in a timely fashion: A long article NY Times features one man's year-plus- one-day quest for the city to repair a streetlight on East 96th in Manhattan.

We just got this alert: "NYC DOT WILL BE DOING ROVING POTHOLE REPAIRS ON ALL HIGHWAYS TODAY."

The U.S. Department of Transportation is planning on auctioning almost 300 flight slots at NYC airports, but the Port Authority said that would seek an injunction to block the plan. The federal DOT says auctioning off 10% of flight slots will help alleviate air traffic, but Governors Paterson and Corzine believe smaller flights will be cut. And the Port Authority told the NY Times, "Who’s got money to buy slots? ...They keep saying an auction stimulates competition. I have more direct flights to more airports than anywhere in the world.”

     

This past Saturday was the city's second of three Summer Streets weekends. One of the bigger issues from last week's first try seemed to be that pedestrians and bicyclists weren't as aware of each others' space as they could be. And so the Department of Transportation responded with fast and slow lanes.

Today is the second of three Summer Streets Saturdays, where the city shuts down about seven miles of streets (from the Brooklyn Bridge to to 72nd Street and Park) for people to bike, stroll, and participate in activities along the way. After last weekend's first try, most of our readers (66%) think it's a terrific program--see some of the great photos here--while 23% think it could be better with some tweaking--perhaps more understanding of bicyclists' and pedestrians' space is needed.

          

The first Summer Streets Saturday, where the city closed 7 miles of Manhattan streets (between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.) to create a vehicle-free boulevard for people to stroll, bicycle, and and just enjoy, seems to be a big hit. Of course there were complaints from drivers trying to make their way around.

Starting tomorrow, seven miles of streets in Manhattan will be closed to vehicular traffic between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. for three Saturdays. In the place of cars and trucks, the city is letting people stroll or bike (there's bike sharing)--or take part in many organized activities, like tai-chi, salsa dancing and hopscotch. The program, Summer Streets, will be open from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park along Lafayette Street, 4th Avenue, Park Avenue and 72nd Street.

Work is well underway with the Department of Transportation plan to narrow Broadway in midtown Between 42nd Street and Herald Square, four lanes of Broadway will go down to two lanes--and a bicycle lane and pedestrian walkway, complete with seating, tables, umbrellas and flower-filled planters, will emerge by August 15. Reader carolita took this photograph of workers dusting off the pebbles on the esplanade-- exciting!

The Department of Transportation announced a plan to test charging higher parking meter rates at high-demand times--the parking meter version of congestion pricing, as it were--in Manhattan and Brooklyn this fall.

For three Saturdays in August, the city will not allow car-traffic on certain roads in order to create a five-mile boulevard for people to walk or bike. According to the Sun, the zone will "run from the start of Centre Street in Lower Manhattan to 72nd Street on the Upper East Side by way of Lafayette Street, Fourth Avenue, and Park Avenue." And the Downtown Express explains "On 15 major east-west streets, like Canal, 14th St. and 42nd St., cars will be allowed to cross the car-free zone."

Another sad story of pet electrocution comes out of Queens; ABC reports that Cecelia Sing's Siberian husky named Sebastian died on his Sunday night walk in Long Island City. A lamppost is believed to have shocked him with stray voltage (not an unfamiliar story).

"As soon as he got to the lamppost, he jumped and he dropped," she said. "And he starting shaking wildly, and I'm like, 'Go on. Get up, Sebastian, get up,' And he wouldn't move. And he just shook. And then, all of the sudden, he stopped shaking and he was dead. My dog was dead."

Wow! Streetsblog attended the Department of Transportation's and New York City Transit's "co-presentation" of the city's Bus Rapid Transit program and discovered "A Transit Miracle on 34th Street."

DOT will repave and restripe for five lanes between Third and Ninth Avenues by the end of this year, with painted bus lanes on the north and south sides and three auto lanes in the center. Service hours will also be extended. Phase 2 calls for a 34th Street Transitway, closing the street to cars between Fifth and Sixth and installing pedestrian plazas. On either side of that block, there would be two lanes for cars heading in one direction -- toward the rivers -- while on the other half of the street, buses would have two extra-wide lanes separated from traffic. In other words, buses would constitute the only through traffic on 34th Street. According to Sadik-Khan, 34th Street BRT will eventually tie in to new East River ferry service (details to be announced next week).

The above photo was taken on April 9th at the intersection that was previously known as Mercer Street and W Houston Street. Adjust your Google maps, the city has (accidentally) renamed Mercer to Merser. Any guesses as to how long it will take the DoT to white this one out?

A 29-year-old leaving his overnight shift with coworkers was fatally shot on East 39th Street yesterday morning. The incident occurred at 7:40AM, outside the Williams Club (per investigators, 1010WINS reports "the violence had nothing to do" with the 100-year-old club).

We noticed two YouTube videos, taken from an apartment with a view of Dean Street, documenting some late night construction activity at the Atlantic Yards site in downtown Brooklyn. How late? Well, one video takes place at 11:42PM (video) while the other is in the 4AM hour (above!). For reference, according to 311, construction hours are generally 7AM to 6PM on weekdays (there may be emergency work in the middle of the night, but only on occasion; we also know some contractors get variances and conduct work late at night).

After talk of flight caps to help ease airport congestion that leave many travelers very irritable, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced another policy to help ease airport woes. The DOT will let airports charge airlines based on the time of day and volume of traffic their planes are landing in. Previously, aircraft was only charged based on plane weight.

For just 25 cents, you finally can experience the steel-and-glass splendor of the city's first new public toilet. City officials gathered in Madison Square Park for the ceremonial first flush of the Automatic Public Toilet (APT). Almost a year after the location was announced and almost 2 years after the toilets were first previewed, Department of Transportation Commissioner Jeannette Sadik-Khan said she was "flushed with excitement in this new era...New Yorkers had their fingers and legs crossed for this special day." And so it goes.

Mayor Bloomberg has announced that the city will crackdown on the abuse of parking permits issued to civil servants, reducing the overall number by 20%. The change comes after the Post revealed in November that “149 separate government entities had qualified for the coveted placards last year, ranging from the state lottery to the US Navy recruiting office, which was allocated an astonishing 110 permits.”

From rats ruling a West Village KFC/Taco Bell to Governor Spitzer's downward spiral, from a shock jock's questionable words to an up-and-down year for the MTA (and its riders), we bring up the biggest stories of 2007.