34th Avenue Open street lies dangerously come to life

We are PLEADING for your help! Residents of 34th Ave & First Responders are in danger. A fire truck can’t navigate through the cement bricks & planters! @GovKathyHochul @communityboard3 @votejgr @jessicaramos @voteshekar @NYCMayor @RPachecoJH @DOEChancellor pic.twitter.com/yj1R2nxvc8

— Gloria (@Gloria69NY) September 17, 2022

 

 

Once again from Jim Burke's letter to Donovan Richards about his scurrilous accusatory lies about homophobia directed towards him and his group. This may have been the biggest and most dangerous lie of all. Time to remove that crappy version of stonehenge on the road and abolish these open streets now.

Brooklyn Bridge cancels vehicle lane for bike lanes

Gothamist 

One of the Brooklyn Bridge's car lanes will officially start its transformation into a dedicated bike lane on Monday, June 21st.

The new two-way protected bike path is expected to be completed this fall, at which point the crowded promenade will become pedestrian-only. The plan was previously announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio during his final State of the City address in January.

"The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the nation’s most beloved structures, will this year celebrate its 138th birthday," Department of Transportation Commissioner (and Transportation Alternatives marionette) Hank Gutman said in a statement. "Over that long history, the bridge has changed with the times – as horse-drawn carriages were replaced with trolleys, which were then retired with the advent of car lanes.  In the coming months, we are going to transform this bridge we all love once again – this time with new bicycle lanes that invest in the bridge’s more sustainable future."

This isn't going to work. And what will happen when unlicensed motor scooter riders take over the lanes (another thing that de Blasio thinks will solve itself, even after a woman got killed by one of them in a hit-and-run).

 

NYC is back on top in traffic congestion

NY Post

New York City had the worst traffic congestion in the US in 2020, a jump from the No. 4 rank the previous year, according to a new report.

Big Apple drivers lost 100 hours of time to traffic congestion last year, according to transportation analytics firm INRIX — which is actually a 28 percent drop from 2019.

But other cities saw much larger increases in speed amid the pandemic: In Boston, drivers lost 68 percent fewer hours in 2020 than 2019. In San Francisco congestion dropped 51 percent.

Philadelphia and Chicago came in second and third place in terms of hours lost to congestion, at 94 and 86 respectively. Each saw traffic drop between six and 12 percent more than New York.

INRIX transportation analyst Bob Pishue said New York’s rise to the top of the list surprised him — and was tough to explain.

“Downtown speeds [in New York] only went from 11 mph to 12 mph — not that big a jump, 9 percent or so. We saw in other cities jumps of 40 percent or more,” Pishue said.

“New York is its own thing. Everything in New York is unique. Trying to pin this on one factor is really difficult.”

New York City roads also accounted for the second, third and fourth most congested in the country, according to INRIX’s analysis — with the Brooklyn Queens Expressway from I-145 to Tillary Street, the Cross Bronx Expressway west of the Bronx River Parkway, and the BQE between 38th Street and Downtown Brooklyn taking the dubious honors.

Looks like the city's bike lobby-influenced studies about the decline of driving has been highly exaggerated.

Q70 bus illegal idling, hydrant parking caught in the act in Woodside

 I've been making 311 complaints since January regarding illegally idling Q70 buses on 61st St in Woodside (multiple buses just put on their hazards and block the street). Yesterday at 5 pm I found one *parked in front of a hydrant* on 39th Ave (driver apparently napping in the back seat). The neighbors say it happens all the time.

 Around the corner on 61st were two more idling buses, outside the "drop off only" zone that *always* has two parked vehicles, and the actual bus stop on Roosevelt. Needless to say, buses more or less permanently occupying the southbound lane on 61st makes for a massive honking traffic disaster.