Sunday, January 15, 2017

Van Wyck widening & SBS don't mix

From the Queens Chronicle:

While the Department of Transportation sees no problem with the governor’s proposal to widen the Van Wyck Expressway — as part of his plan to transform John F. Kennedy International Airport — some believe it could conflict with the agency’s plan for Select Bus Service on Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards.

“Maybe, it might be a good idea to hold off on it,” Betty Braton, chairwoman of Community Board 10, said last Thursday.

As Braton pointed out, the Van Wyck Expressway and Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards are both major north-south corridors. The DOT is planning to redo parts of the boulevards as part of SBS — putting a dedicated bus lane in some parts.

Meanwhile, the governor last Wednesday announced a $2 billion plan to widen the Van Wyck in both directions from three lanes to four and the connector ramps at the Kew Gardens Interchange from two to three.

Cuomo said the changes will alleviate bottlenecks along the thoroughfare and save motorists a combined travel time of 7.4 million hours annually.

Braton said it’s her board’s belief that SBS will increase congestion and that the Van Wyck project could add to that.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally a great idea by Cuomo and of course the Queens pols need to chime in with a negative view. The VWE needs an extra lane.

(sarc) said...

As we know, the policy and true purpose of all new and current transit projects is to greatly increase the "misery" factor for motorists!

Having both of the Borough's major North South thoroughfare under construction and seriously compromised is an incredible jackpot for the powers that be with an incredible amount of "the misery" heaped upon the motorists!

Also does anyone actually believe that this project will be on time and under budget?
You, the taxpayers will be fleeced for at least FIVE BILLION DOLLARS if and when this is ever completed.
And the "misery" will be perpetual.

So do you think this was all planned and arranged behind the "transparent" closed doors???
Or just coincidence...

Anonymous said...

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a re-do of the VWE been going on for years and isn't it almost completed?

Anonymous said...

The day the extra lanes open the traffic will become horrible.

Anonymous said...

Will be the biggest construction clusterfuck in Queens history !!
Does this jackass Governor know how many cloverleafs & ramps we just re-built (years of suffering) will have to be redone to accommodate this ?

The fix is to ban these new 500 double Decker passenger jets and slow things down.
They carry to many people !!

Anonymous said...

The van wyck needs a few new lanes and the clearview needs to be extended down to the belt. That's the only way to ease the congestion on that road.

(sarc) said...

But what of the magical light rail that can bring all the world to Jamaica?

Is Jamaica not the place where the entire world would like to visit and tour?

That train was supposed to fix everything.

I imagine that to some useless bureaucrat it was a brilliant plan.

The problem is that the engineers that designied the light rail,are all here on H1B visas and to them the heart of Jamaica looks like the place to be...

Anonymous said...

Add lanes? They eventually lead to other roads and will bottleneck!!!!
SBS will not move people faster on woodhaven/ cross bay without dedicated police enforcement. We know that isn't happening and traffic agents ain't cops.

Anonymous said...

Adding a lane to VWE is good idea and it makes good sense for CB5, CB6, CB9, and CB10 to tell DOT to stop planning to take lanes away on Woodhaven and Crossbay Blvds. Maintaining north/south traffic flow is as important as better bus service yet DOT ignores the needs of drivers. If there are to be lanes added to the VWE then nothing should be done on Woodhaven until after VWE work is completed.

Anonymous said...

They can widen all they want.
The problem is once you hit an exit there is no where to go but one lane congested traffic with traffic lights, etc.

Anonymous said...

The Van Wyck and the LIE will always remain a clogged mess no matter what measures are put into effect. All of our pverbuldong, without paying attention to infrastructure, will destroy us in the final chapter.How do you put a muzzle on the greed of over developers?
They have their partners in our crooked corrupt politicians.
One shining example of a political mobster is Paul Vallone! The Vallones lobby for developers. That is their bread and butter. Representing you is only a ruse. Vote all incumbents out! Flush the political toilet...eh Crappy?

Anonymous said...

SBS has only made traveling on Main Street more miserable for drivers and riders alike. It's no wonder they want to expand it everywhere.

Anonymous said...

We need people to wake the fck up !
Vote these little creedy political bastards out and vote for term limits for all ! That is the only way to end the racket going on in politics in 2017 !

Anonymous said...

>Vote these little creedy political bastards out

Yes

>and vote for term limits for all !

We already have term limits on the city level, thankfully.