Not to toot my own horn, but, well – beep, beep.
To be fair, the rumored solution described by Brooklyn Paper does improve on the idea I put forward five and a half months ago, in that it keeps commercial traffic off of Wythe Avenue (which I thought was the only way out, but what do I know – I’m not a transportation planner). [UPDATE: The discussion of Wythe Avenue comes in the comments, not the article itself. The commenter states that southbound traffic would be routed to Union Avenue, which is already a truck route.] As I said when this latest rumor first surfaced last week, the key to solving the problem was to do some actual planning, not just shift the burden a block to the east. And it seems like actual planning was involved, and that what is proposed might be a comprehensive solution.
Of course, the most important thing is that peace is restored to the kingdom. (Actually, the really important thing is that businesses regain access to their curbsides.)
[Corrected, as above.]
5 responses to “Bike Lane Fix: What a Great Idea”
Sorry, I’m confused — how does this rumored plan keep commercial traffic off of Wythe? I don’t see anything about that in the Brooklyn Paper article.
Sorry – it was in the comments to the article, where it it says that Wythe would not be designated as a truck route – southbound truck traffic would have to use Union via North 10th or North 11th Streets, all of which are currently designated as local truck routes. Since the one-way is supposed to extend up to North 14th, this may mean that Wythe from North 14th to North 10th (eastbound) would have to be designated a truck route (I don’t know – I’m guessing). But that stretch of Wythe is within the manufacturing zoned areas, not the residential areas.
Southbound trucks coming from Greenpoint can also use McGuinness to Meeker to Union, all of which are currently local truck routes.
(You can get to the truck route maps here – http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/truckrouting.shtml)
I see. That’s a nice idea in theory, but truck drivers don’t seem all that observant of the truck routes in practice…
True that DOT plans to encourage commercial traffic to Union Avenue and North 10th and 11th Streets. Also true that without enforcement we’re nowhere. CB1 is going to ask Mayor Bloomberg to tell agencies with truck enforcement capacity to get their collective acts together (NYPD, DOT, DSNY). If we’re number one with truck traffic we should be number one with truck traffic enforcement.
Back to Kent Avenue — this is an improvement over the current interim plan. Let’s not forget that the actual greenway design process has not even begun, though, and it’s up to the community to continue pressing for a greenway that works for us.
Mike – I was going to say pretty much the same thing as Ms. Nomer. Enforcement is a big issue in CB1, and one that some of the local pols (Joe Lentol in particular) and the CB1 transportation chair have been very out front on. Still, NYPD needs to have this as a priority, or trucks will just go anywhere (which has been the norm for too long).