Posted on 01/30/2020 8:08:02 PM PST by karpov
As worsening traffic has put a stranglehold on New York, the country’s largest city has moved to squeeze out cars, taking away street space to make room for bikes and pedestrians, and all but banning vehicles from a major Manhattan thoroughfare.
Now, New York is considering an even more startling step: eliminating one-third of the lanes on one of the city’s busiest highways.
That is the key recommendation from a panel appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio that was tasked with coming up with a rescue plan for a key stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which is rapidly falling apart under the weight of 153,000 vehicles a day, more than three times what it was built to handle.
Without an overhaul, parts of it could become unsafe and unfit for traffic within five years.
The idea of shrinking the highway to four lanes from six is a remarkable shift for the city, which like the nation, has been shaped by a car-centric culture and is now wrestling with the consequences, including gridlocked streets, polluted air and rising pedestrian and cyclist deaths.
Some elected leaders and policymakers are increasingly recognizing that the future health of the city depends on making it less accommodating to cars.
The notion of eliminating highway lanes is realistic because of another ambitious effort to move cars off the road: congestion pricing. Next year, New York will become the first American city to charge a fee to drive into the busiest areas of Manhattan.
The panel’s recommendation would still have to be adopted by the city’s Transportation Department.
Olivia Lapeyrolerie, a spokeswoman for Mr. de Blasio, said city officials were reviewing the findings. “This is a thorny problem that defies easy solutions,” she said. “The external panel has put fresh ideas on the table.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Socialists...
Hurr durr - reducing lanes increases traffic flow!
Chocolate rations are up!
Think of a major highway like a 36-inch pipe that feeds a bunch of smaller pipes. If the smaller pipes aren’t big enough to handle the flow of water in them when the 36-inch pipe is filled to the top, then the water backs up and there’s no point in having a pipe that large.
Now, New York is considering an even more startling step: eliminating one-third of the lanes on one of the city’s busiest highways.
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One third of the lanes? Hell, why not eliminate two thirds of the lanes. /s
They should eliminate all of the inbound lanes.
These commies are just screaming to get tarred and feathered or worse.
It’s insane.
No, it’s another effort to force us into the cattl, um, mass transit.
I want to see the result when all those three-piece suits suddenly find themselves forced to share bus space with the bums.
May THEN a lot of headquarters will get moved out of NYC.
Downside of that is that the NY liberals will then infest the rest of the nation even faster.
100% foot traffic and reduce the workday to 2 hours for walking time.
What could go wrong?
Kramer has the solution.
Used to be, if a road couldn’t handle its traffic —we widened it. Obvious. Now we are told the right thing to have done was to make it skinnier?. Who knew? ( a secondary benefit of this new strategy— the politicians will have more of our tax money left over to steal or buy votes with.
I just noticed the author’s name. “Winnie the Hu” would be a great nickname. :-P
There’s even a segment where trucks have to exit onto local streets and then get back on again because they can’t fit underneath the Manhattan Bridge.
I’m a civil engineer and I’ve worked on several highway projects on and around the BQE for years. This proposal is intriguing, and should at least be given a serious look.
Ny any it’s a helluva town
With socialist crap going down
Blasio makes it worse all around
Ny Ny......it’s a suck as town!
Widened or a second roadway. Used to be. Now I goes they can just turn it into a bicycle or skateboard path
DeBlasio is working twenty four/seven to destroy the city.
Time will tell if his efforts bear fruit!
See Post #3. I’m guessing you haven’t travelled much in New York City.
Brilliant. SMH
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