Results tagged “traffic”

Yesterday afternoon, a school bus carrying 26 children and a SUV collided into each other—and then into a home's front fence—on Kingdom Avenue at Billou Street in Staten Island's Huguenot section. The Staten Island Advance reports that the Our Lady Star of the Sea School bus had been traveling on Kingdom, while witnesses say the SUV "rolled through a stop sign on Billiou Street, into the path" of the bus. "The front of the bus on the driver's side smashed into the Cadillac's passenger side. The driver's side of the SUV was wedged against a tree toppled in the crash." An 11-year-old student and the SUV's two passengers were treated for minor injuries. The homeowner who found the two vehicles in her front yard told the Post the surrounding streets are a mess, "Everybody is in such a hurry, people run through these [stop] signs all the time. Somebody’s going to get killed," while another neighbor opined, "No one can see the stop signs — or they don’t care. The Escalade blew the stop sign but I’m sure the bus was supposed to be on his block either."

After studying four intersections for 38 hours, Transportation Alternatives, the bicycling, walking and public transit advocacy group, has released a report with suggestions for the NYPD on reducing "the most dangerous driving behaviors." Some of the findings: "Traffic law violations occur three times every minute (157 times an hour) per intersection" and "On average, each intersection had 24 Failure to Yield violations per hour. Failure to Yield is the second most frequent human factor in causing motor vehicle crashes."

Sometimes things are just really cool to watch, like this video of the Manhattan Bridge moving along with the subway traffic.

It might not come as a surprise to anyone who's ever been stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel on a late Friday afternoon, but a new report from the Texas Transportation Institute shows New York drivers lost a staggering 380 million hours stuck in rush hour traffic in 2007, the second-highest rate in the nation. (Just think about the waste—that's enough time to build 11 full-size Great Pyramids or watch almost every episode of Law & Order!) No matter how bad that sounds, though, at least drivers idling on the Cross Bronx Expressway can be thankful they're not in Los Angeles. As Newsday reports, the TTI found the City of Angels had the nation's worst traffic congestion, costing its motorists more than 485 million hours and $10 billion in travel time and extra fuel. The other piece of good news from the report is that, while New York drivers themselves may not be improving, the traffic is. City congestion has fallen for two years now from its peak in 2005, a trend Kate Slevin of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign chalks up to a strong public transit system: "People want to be on transit. They like having options and transportation choices, and that's reflected in these numbers."

It's really happening: Workers are getting ready to transform Broadway traffic lanes into a pedestrian oasis as part of the DOT's plan to ban cars from part of the city's main stem. Mayor Bloomberg and other officials announced the radical move back in February; it involves rerouting vehicular traffic from part of Broadway to Seventh Avenue, a move that they say will improve traffic flow because Broadway itself creates congestion as it cuts southeast across the avenues. Pedestrian plazas with tables and chairs, similar to the new "Broadway Boulevard," will entirely replace motor vehicles on Broadway between 42nd and 47th streets and from 32nd to 35th streets. According to 1010 WINS, work will begin Memorial day weekend, and the transformation will include bike lanes in both sections. According to the DOT, the changes, which include widening Seventh Avenue with another traffic lane, are an "experiment" that will last through the end of the year but may become permanent.

In case you haven't noticed, today is the annual Five Boro Bike Tour to celebrate Bike Month NYC, which just got under way this week. If you plan on driving in the city today, be prepared for streets to be closed as 30,000 cyclists take over the town. The tour begins in Battery Park and makes its way throughout the various boroughs before entering into Staten Island via the Verrazano Bridge. 1010 WINS says that this is the third consecutive year that the tour was so popular they had to close off registration—this year setting a record by doing so seven weeks before the ride. The city's website has a full listing of the the schedule and exact route of today's festivities, as well as other upcoming events for the rest of the month. Earlier this week, we pedaled our way into Bike Month by talking to Jeff Underwood of Continuum Cycles.

E-Z Pass is coming to the Brooklyn Bridge after all—just not as part of any East River crossing toll plan. City officials announced that E-Z Pass transponders will be installed on the bridge, as well as several other spots throughout the streets of lower Manhattan below Canal Street in order to monitor the flow of traffic and come up with potential ways to ease congestion in that part of town. The Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center will be in charge of the project, which they emphasize will not be able to detect either license plate numbers or the drivers inside the vehicles. An LMCCC spokeswoman says that the routes and travel times of lower Manhattan motorists they'll be collecting will simply allow the agency to know where to dispatch traffic agents to deal with problems.

Maintenance on the Brooklyn Bridge beginning in the summer of 2010 will close it off to Manhattan-bound traffic on weekends for six months. The bridge's arches and steel-wire will be freshly painted and repairs will be made on corroded and crumbling approaches, ramps and anchorages. The entire project will take over four years, beginning this June when one lane will be shut down during off-peak hours. The project will cost somewhere between $200 and $500 million, the first of its kind since the '80s and one that has been delayed for years due to budgetary constraints. A 2006 report deemed the bridge in poor but structurally sound condition, something that came even more into focus after the structural collapse of a Minneapolis bridge in 2007 led to 13 deaths. The DOT tells the Post that federal funding will be involved with the project.

Various news outlets fanned out around Times Square to get comments from "men on the street" reacting to the news that, starting Memorial Day, Mayor Bloomberg will banish motor vehicles from Broadway, between 42nd and 47th streets and 33rd to 35th streets. Bloomberg says computer simulations determined that motorists will be able to cruise down Seventh Avenue 17% faster, and 37% more quickly up Sixth Avenue, once Broadway drivers stop interrupting traffic flow.

    

Coming soon to Times Square and Herald Square: Vehicle-free Broadway! Starting on Memorial Day, two stretches of Broadway, from 42nd to 47th streets and from 32nd to 35th streets, will transformed into pedestrian plazas in an experiment that will last through the end of the year and may become permanent, the Post reports. Mayor Bloomberg is expected to announce the plan today, and promise that the change will actually improve the overall traffic flow, because Broadway disrupts traffic where it intersects with other streets. As part of the changes, Seventh Avenue will be widened from three to four lanes at 45th Street.

After the Thursday incident where an unoccupied van—left in reverse—barreled into a group of pre-schoolers on a Chinatown sidewalk, killing two children and injuring many others, lawmakers demanded that the city better enforce traffic in the neighborhood's busy streets. The NYPD deemed it an "accident," because the driver thought he put the vehicle in park when he jumped out to make a delivery, but State Senator Daniel Squadron and Manhattan Borough President outlined a nine-point plan to prevent further tragedy and demanded the city take action immediately.

The horrible incident where a van—left empty and running by a driver making a delivery—rolled onto a curb in Chinatown and killed a four-year-old girl and three-year-old boy, plus injured 11 other toddlers and two adults, was deemed an accident by police yesterday. The NYPD did question the van's driver, but spokesman Paul Browne said, "It turns out this was an accident," and, therefore, the driver, who was questioned and whose blood alcohol was negative, will not be charged.

A team of twenty brave (or crazy) cyclists recently took part in a nighttime group ride along Queens Boulevard, that twelve-lane traffic artery affectionately known as the Boulevard of Death. Wearing reflective vests with "Share the Road" printed on the back, the so-called "bike pool" gathers monthly to remind drivers that cyclists also use the dangerous boulevard, where 22-year-old Asif Rahman, a photographer and aspiring hip-hop artist, was killed by a truck earlier this year. The Times tagged along with the cyclists, who are calling for a bike lane on the boulevard. Queens Councilman James Gennaro agrees it could accommodate one with minimal impact on traffic, but the DOT has no plans to install it. As Alex Vasiliev, a 66-year-old Ukranian livery cab driver puts it, "Bicycles need a lane, but cars do not need bicycle lane."

The race to get out of NYC through the Lincoln Tunnel was painful yesterday afternoon into evening as authorities investigated a suspicious package on I-495 West. MyFoxNY reports that the section right have the Weehawken exit was shut down between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. And after it was cleared up, there was another hour or two of residual delays!

Bike-friendly city Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told reporters last night that August's street closures in Manhattan will be back next year. The Summer Streets program, which prohibited traffic on a 7-mile stretch from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park on three consecutive Saturdays, was "clearly a hit on Park Ave," Sadik-Khan tells the Daily News. She also says it's "highly likely" Summer Streets will be extended next summer to the other boroughs. While some retailers complained that they lost business from customers who couldn't drive to their locations, cyclists and pedestrians were mostly enthusiastic about the car-free oasis, relishing the chance to play music, dance, and practice yoga in the middle of the street. [Photo Cred.]

Since September 10th, when blocking the box was changed from a moving violation to a parking violation, the NYPD has issued over 1,000 citations to the tune of $150 each. But some traffic cops have come out against the change because they say they're ill-equipped to deal with traffic stops, which are "one of the most dangerous interactions even police officers engage in," according to Anthony Miranda of the National Latino Officers Association. He tells WNYC that NYPD officers "have specialized training specifically for the purposes of car stops. Traffic enforcement agents do not. They do not even have training in non-lethal weapons." In response, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne released a statement wondering, "Where's he been? Traffic enforcement has always been a difficult and often dangerous job for TEAs and police officers alike, particularly at busy intersections." And with the return of the squeegee men, it's only going to get worse!

Traffic agents wrote nearly 700 summonses on Wednesday as part of the city's crackdown on drivers who block the intersection during heavy traffic. But despite the increased enforcement of the city's box-blocking law— which is now punishable by a $115 fine—New York's boxes are still all blocked up! The Post sent a reporter to hang out at the intersection of West 54th Street and Broadway yesterday, where traffic agents were not handing out tickets. There the reporter counted 29 cars blocking the box over the course of an hour. But box block at your own risk; over at West 36th Street and Ninth Avenue the NYPD says they handed out 20 summonses an hour to drivers with a penchant for box blocking.

Despite the economic tailspin, developers are still moving forward with luxury residential buildings that – assuming anyone can still afford to occupy them – will result in 170,000 new cars on city streets by 2030, thanks to city regulations requiring new developments to contain a minimum number of built-in parking spots. That estimate comes from public transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, who held a press conference at City Hall yesterday urging the city to change the policy, which they say will produce 431,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

The first Summer StreetsSaturday took place over the weekend, with the city barring motor vehicles from 6.9 miles of streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 72nd Street and Central Park. Cyclists and pedestrians reveled in the car-free oasis as the vehicular traffic was replaced by music, dance, yoga and other exercise classes from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. But some drivers, retailers and garage owners were less enthused. Mark Barbosa, a manager of Manhattan Cabinetry near East 30th Street, tells the Post that his sales "dipped 50 to 60 percent compared to a typical Saturday," due to the auto ban. Food vendors, on the other hand, were raking it in.

A former FedEx worker turned state trooper is accused of writing phony speeding tickets to get back at a man he had an argument with over a parking spot. The ticketing revenge allegedly began after office Lester Hooper (pictured), an East Flatbush resident who patrols Westchester, and his wife became outraged at a neighbor, Derrick Perry, for not moving his truck back in January.

Red Hook seemed eerily quiet on Saturday, as we checked out the traffic flow on Columbia and Van Brunt Streets on the West Side of the neighborhood. Any prediction of overwhelming weekend gridlock seemed not to be panning out-- except for one Ikea bus ferrying people from Boro Hall, the scene seemed as quiet and bucolic as any summer weekend in years past. Indeed, maybe even quieter, as people who'd normally be out at the Van Brunt shops were checking out the Swedish wares. Local shops seemed to realize this-- we spotted a few signs like the ones above attempting to draw people away from the store.

"Speedy," starring Harold Lloyd as a less-than-safe NYC driver, was released in 1928 and illustrates how New Yorkers gained their reputation as being somewhat reckless. The above clip features Babe Ruth himself requesting Lloyd the cabbie to get him to Yankee stadium in a hurry, and then soon regretting it as Speedy is more interested in chatting up his sports idol than keeping his eyes on the road.

Passing a vehicle across a double line in New York State is a 3-point offense. It's difficult to find out what the penalty is for parking across a double line. New Yorkers are overly familiar with egregious parking jobs, but GerritsenBeach.net had to admire the triple-parking job that some neighbors accomplished recently. Apparently, the diagonal hash marks on the left of the road indicated to one driver that the street was as good as a parking lot.

Mayor Bloomberg didn't appear in public after Assembly Leader Sheldon put a nail in congestion pricing's coffin. But Bloomberg did issue an angry press release. The full text is after the jump (and he does thank many politicians who helped), but here's where he lets loose, after noting that while Washington D.C. was willing to give NYC $354 in federal funding, the State Assembly lacked leadership and courage in accepting new ideas:

"If that wasn't shameful enough, it takes a special type of cowardice for elected officials to refuse to stand up and vote their conscience- on an issue that has been debated, and amended significantly to resolve many outstanding issues, for more than a year. Every New Yorker has a right to know if the person they send to Albany was for or against better transit and cleaner air. People know where I stood, and where members of the City Council stood. They deserved at least that from Albany."

On the heels of Governor Paterson’s endorsement of Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan comes a new Quinnipiac poll showing that New York State voters oppose it 50 – 33 percent. Most of the opposition has to do with a pervasive doubt that the revenue from the plan would actually go to improve mass transit, as promised.

The following post is from our advertiser, Campaign for New York's Future.

DKNY is usurping a grassroots campaign to memorialize cyclists killed in New York City's traffic, with a guerrilla marketing campaign to push their product. Above is a picture of several orange-painted DKNY bikes, first widely noted at BikeBlog.

A Bronx man was shot in the hand after exhibiting what could charitably be described as foolhardy behavior Friday. Perhaps we are too immersed in stories like Amadou Diallou and Sean Bell, but the story of a driver in the Bronx left us shaking our heads. After the man was pulled over once and then peeled out before police could exit their car, he was pulled over again, and then took off again. A short chase ensued and when NYPD officers finally got him to stop, he reportedly made sudden movements inside his car when told to show his hands.

Weighing in on the modified congestion pricing plan the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission recommended, Mayor Bloomberg said:

"The Commission has done a thorough and thoughtful job. They've taken testimony from hundreds of residents, community leaders and civic organizations. They've held dozens of public meetings and have analyzed mountains of data. Although the final recommendation varies from our original proposal, I accept it.

Continue reading "Bloomberg Accepts Commission's Modified Congestion Pricing Plan "