From the Times Ledger:The MTA recently put into place a new traffic pattern at the Whitestone Bridge, and drivers are advised to follow certain recommendations in order to keep travel moving as quickly as possible.
Northbound traffic on the Whitestone Expressway approaching the bridge crawled last weekend, causing backups that cost travelers sizable chunks of time on their treks into the Bronx and onward.
The work, the second phase of a four-year, $200 million project to rehabilitate the aging bridge, which was built in the 1930s, would replace the entire original 1,785 feet of roadway near the Bronx end of the bridge and widen its lanes and install emergency shoulders there.
As a result of the work, one lane will be closed at a time until summer 2011, according to Judie Glave, a spokeswoman for Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bridges and Tunnels.
As such, drivers are advised to amend their driving habits.
“If you are a cash customer and you’re headed north to the Bronx, you should stay to the far right because that will bring you to the cash lanes on the toll plaza. It’s not as if you couldn’t get over otherwise, but that’s where eventually you’ll need to be,” Glave said, adding that E-ZPass customers should stay to the left. Signs are posted indicating these new suggestions.
6 comments:
This has been a pain in the ass all summer, but... it needs to be done.
Yes, and now the trucks that are impatient have been blasting their horns and holding on to them at all hours of the night. Children have been startled from sleep at 1,2,3,4 AM,and at all other hours of the early morning, crying and scared.
The MTA has posted "no horn honking" signs but these truckers could care less. Once in a while they post an officer at the approach to the Bridge to issue violations.
Maybe now is a good time to look into placing the sound barriers the neighborhood has been requesting for years?
5th avenue is now plagued with more cars, trucks, and trailers utilizing it to get away from Bridge traffic. If the 3rd avenue exit were to be permanently closed except for emergency vehicles, this would alleviate traffic for the entire area, which in turn might make area more desirable to live in?
If 5th and 4th avenues were converted to a one way westbound toward the Bridge, traffic would then go to 3rd avenue which a 58ft wide street with only seven homes on one side, instead of a 27 ft wide road with 28 homes and over 20children under the age of 15.
This would also enable the MTA and NYPD to be stationed under the Bridge to generate Revenue by issueing violations to the trucks that should not be on the residential streets. The officials would also be able to reroute the trucks under the Bridge and back to designated truck routes.
With all this construction maybe now is the time to reexamine opening the 3rd avenue exit back to the original design 0f 1939, giving drivers the option of turning right on 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, and or 3rd avenues?
Maybe, just maybe, McCarthy, Kahn, Gee, Padavan, Halloran, Kelty, Appellian, Bloomberg, Ackerman, Bitterman, Boosters Beach, Markel, et al.. will finally step up and do what is right for neighborhood and its children? Maybe those hired and elected to protect the best interest of the residents do so, instead of your standard "what do you want me to do about it" , well we can only make suggestions, if we knew what you can do about it, we wouldn't need you now would we?
Michael Mastro, MGCA
What about the daily accidents and emergency vehicle sirens on the Whitestone? The 20th Avenue exits (northbound and southbound) are dangerous. Once again, an example of EDC development (the College Point Corporate Park) vs. the community and common sense planning!!!
Nothing says "Thanks for blasting your horn" like spike strips -- at the right place at the right time, of course.
“If you are a cash customer and you’re headed north to the Bronx, you should stay to the far right because that will bring you to the cash lanes on the toll plaza. It’s not as if you couldn’t get over otherwise, but that’s where eventually you’ll need to be,” Glave said...
Yeah right, buddy. I'm flying up to the front and waiting to cut someone off a few cars back from the booth like I've always done. Find a better way to pay for the subways than taking my cash every time I cross a bridge, and I wouldn't perpetuate my angst.
Friend of mine Billy (RIP) got killed on that so called "repair work" last year.
The contractors work like slobs and use cheap dangerous equipment.
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