The present configuration of thirty fourth Avenue in Manhattan.
NYC DOT
Doesn’t the federal authorities have sufficient to do than to play visitors cop in New York Metropolis?
First, the US Division of Transportation went to battle with the MTA and the state for enacting congestion pricing; that matter is now within the fingers of a federal court docket decide.
Then the Trump administration pulled billions of {dollars} in funding for essential infrastructure tasks such because the Hudson River Rail Tunnel to enhance Amtrak and New Jersey Transit service, and the Second Avenue Subway extension to East Harlem.
Now, the US DOT is making an attempt to halt town Division of Transportation’s plans to transform thirty fourth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan — one of many busiest and most congested crosstown streets on the island — right into a busway.
In an Oct. 16 letter, Sean McMaster of the USDOT’s Federal Freeway Administration demanded NYCDOT “cease and desist all activities to implement the 34th Street busway project immediately” till a sit-down assembly in regards to the busway is held. The first concern, the USDOT claims, is how the proposed busway would affect truck entry, emergency automobile routes, and compliance with nationwide freeway rules.
The federal company is threatening to withhold funding together with “project authorizations and approvals” if it doesn’t get a gathering and proceed in compliance with federal regulation, McMaster warned.
The argument is completely capricious. It’s not as if New York Metropolis hasn’t completed a busway earlier than.
Actually, a busway, which turned the inspiration for the thirty fourth Avenue plan, has been in place 20 blocks south, on 14th Avenue, for six years. Visitors is restricted throughout most hours to buses, emergency autos, and vehicles making native deliveries.
The tip outcome has been a internet constructive for the Greenwich Village, East Village and Chelsea communities. Bus speeds on the M14 line alongside 14th Avenue improved dramatically, as did ridership as soon as individuals realized they have been not strolling quicker than the buses themselves. The variety of collisions alongside 14th Avenue additionally decreased because of the drop in visitors.
New York goals to duplicate that success on thirty fourth Avenue, the place the M34 is among the many slowest bus strains within the Huge Apple because of the heavy congestion on the roadway.
It’s laughable that the federal authorities thinks it is aware of higher than town’s Division of Transportation relating to managing visitors in Manhattan. Whereas the NYCDOT says it goals to work with the feds on getting the thirty fourth Avenue busway completed, the company ought to maintain its floor and demand that New York streets be managed by New York’s authorities.
In different phrases, it’s our streets.
