NYC Roads

[roadman65]

I was always aware of Broadway being severed at Times Square to create a pedestrian mall, but unware of it also being closed at Macy's and Herald Square.  GSV shows a barrier at 35th Street right before the area on NBC each Thanksgiving where the parade acts stop to face the cameras and perform for the NBC audience.  I am guessing that once the pandemic is over and things get back to normal, that barrier will be removed to allow parade floats and marchers to continue and perform in front of Macy's for the viewing audience.  I do not see them relocating and being Macy's is the sponsor of the Parade, they are not going to give up of photo op of their front door on world wide TV.

[Mergingtraffic]

Any chance they could reconfigure the Interstate 278/NY 895 interchange so traffic does not have to exit to stay on Interstate 278? Or would the right-of-way impacts be too great to justify such a reconfiguration?

Wasn't that part of the phase 2 plan? To create three-thru lanes for I-278 through that interchange?

I noticed the exit ramp to 895 is now ONE lane when it used to be two, even though it opens up to two later on down the road.  I wonder why the chose to take away a lane?! Why should they ever take away a lane!?!

[mariethefoxy]

weren't they adding in some onramp from one of Hunts Point for the trucks to get back to the highway from the food market.

[vdeane]

Yeah, I believe that other lane is going to come from the Hunts Point ramp that's under construction.

[storm2k]

I was always aware of Broadway being severed at Times Square to create a pedestrian mall, but unware of it also being closed at Macy's and Herald Square.  GSV shows a barrier at 35th Street right before the area on NBC each Thanksgiving where the parade acts stop to face the cameras and perform for the NBC audience.  I am guessing that once the pandemic is over and things get back to normal, that barrier will be removed to allow parade floats and marchers to continue and perform in front of Macy's for the viewing audience.  I do not see them relocating and being Macy's is the sponsor of the Parade, they are not going to give up of photo op of their front door on world wide TV.

Was closed off at Madison Square a few years ago as well. Helps with weird traffic angles and turns and such.

Also, the Macys Parade route moved to 6th Ave years ago south of Central Park. So it's not an issue. Being on the wider avenue lets them also fly the bigger balloons without worry.

[D-Dey65]

One other interchange that concerns me is the entrance ramp from Borden Avenue (Exit 13) to the Queens-Midtown Expressway and how it mixes with the off-ramp to NY 25A (Exit 14):

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7411469,-73.9518072,3a,75y,60.43h,89.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snbawPpIt44Qr2a34xnnZvA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

I was going to add an aerial shot for this, but I think this is more effective. Perhaps it might be time to reconsider the north-to-east Pulaski Bridge on-ramp, and add a new on-ramp from Borden Avenue to that ramp.

[paul02474]

This was fine when toll booths stopped traffic at the tunnel portal. Removing the toll booths changed the dynamics, and further changes to the roadway geometry are required.

One other interchange that concerns me is the entrance ramp from Borden Avenue (Exit 13) to the Queens-Midtown Expressway and how it mixes with the off-ramp to NY 25A (Exit 14):

[D-Dey65]

This was fine when toll booths stopped traffic at the tunnel portal. Removing the toll booths changed the dynamics, and further changes to the roadway geometry are required.

Well, they should at least change it to something that doesn't put drivers at risk of a collision.

[noelbotevera]

I can't quite find a concrete answer to this question, but is there any reason that the Bronx has a wacky street grid?

For the other boroughs, there's some justifications:

• Lower Manhattan was because the Dutch settled the area before there was any concept of a street grid. The rest of Manhattan has a uniform street grid, although wackiness occurs in Harlem due to geography
• Brooklyn was an independent city. Wackier streets like Kings Highway or Liberty Avenue exist because these roads were initially trails
• Multiple parks and cemeteries in Queens forced streets to go around these areas; otherwise Queens has a normal grid
• Staten Island has a lot of marshland owned by the state. A lot of the interior of the island is undeveloped, but the developed part of the island (along Newark Bay and New York Bay) have normal street grids

In the case of the Bronx, there isn't many obstacles that roads have to avoid. True, Pelham Bay Park, Van Cortlandt Park, and the Bronx Zoo occupy a lot of space forcing streets to avoid them. Some roads like Broadway or Boston (Post) Road were there first. But there's nonsense like Kingsbridge Avenue, Tremont Avenue, or the streets in Riverdale.  Did people just not know how to build in a straight line back in the 1800s?

[SignBridge]

The Bronx has very hilly, uneven and steep terrain. That leads to streets being winding and curvy instead of straight.

[Alps]

   
• otherwise Queens has a normal grid

nothing about queens is normal
(it's an amalgamation of so many different towns, each with their own grids)

[D-Dey65]

Hey, has anybody here ever been on the bike paths around the Bronx River Parkway in the vicinity of 233rd Street and Woodlawn Metro-North station? I'm trying to find out if this segment that curves off to the left really goes back underneath 233rd, or just ends at a staircase along the south side of the bridge.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MN_Harlem_Line_over_SB_Bronx_River_Pkwy_on-ramp;_Woodlawn.jpg

I'm only asking because I've been looking to get more pics of the 238th Street Arch Bridge next time I go to NYC.

[SignBridge]

I was on Broadway in Downtown Manhattan near City hall this week and was surprised to see some new traffic lights. Just south of City Hall at Park Row/Ann St. there is a very fancy installation (by NYC standards) including 12-inch heads facing B'way traffic, protected-only left-turns and bicycle signals for the first time.

I'm sure the latter will do no good whatsoever since most lower Manhattan bicyclists totally ignore traffic laws, and there is virtually no enforcement by police. But still it's good to see NYC making significant progress on traffic lights.

[D-Dey65]

I'm sure the latter will do no good whatsoever since most lower Manhattan bicyclists totally ignore traffic laws, and there is virtually no enforcement by police. But still it's good to see NYC making significant progress on traffic lights.

And if they get hit by a car, truck, or bus, the anti-car lobbyists are just going to say it's the driver's fault, and they're always being blamed for accidents. 

[roadman65]

This was fine when toll booths stopped traffic at the tunnel portal. Removing the toll booths changed the dynamics, and further changes to the roadway geometry are required.

Well, they should at least change it to something that doesn't put drivers at risk of a collision.

We live in a retroactive world remember.  They won't do anything unless a lamb is sacrificed. Then they act in a usual slow manner.

[Duke87]

I can't quite find a concrete answer to this question, but is there any reason that the Bronx has a wacky street grid?

Because no one planned it otherwise.

Where massive continuous street grids exist, they exist because at some point someone sat down and plotted the whole thing out on paper, and then made it officially ruled that development shall adhere to this pattern. The Bronx never had any such master plan, it was developed on an ad hoc basis and developers in different areas each laid things out how they felt like it.

[Mergingtraffic]

Saw a new sign contract coming up and it included spot improvements for signage around NYC including the FDR Drive.  This little beauty is marked for replacement.


Plus signage for I-495 NB on the FDR so hopefully the recent bubble shields will go away. Of course now I can't find the link

[fmendes]

through some of my own investigation i was looking at how many trucks travel on the Cross Bronx Expressway alone the NYSDOT should make the left lane on the Cross Bronx into a (Truck-trailer) lane from just after the Bruckner interchange and will run express all the way over the Alexander Hamilton Bridge with intermittent entrance and exit points to access the Major Deegan and the Sheridan to some of the congestion from trucks now however this wont solve the weaving problem of trucks accessing the upper level from the major Deegan but it will open up some capacity and will allow for goods to move through the corridor more safely and efficiently. What are your thoughts on this?

[shadyjay]

I don't know if that would solve any problem. 

Ideally, you'd have some sort of express tunnel beneath the existing Cross Bronx out to the Bruckner, or a new crossing north of the GWB and meeting up with the New England Thruway to the east and a northern extension of the NJ Tpke to the west, going north from its present terminus, then curving east.  And to handle the trucks coming down from CT, a new crossing to Long Island, extending I-287, would alleviate some traffic as well.

All options.... $$$$$$ and would take some political wrangling to get through. 

A relatively cheaper option:  expand RR freight.  However you'd have to have some sort of way to get across the Hudson/harbor in the NYC area... something closer than Albany!

[ixnay]

I don't know if that would solve any problem. 

Ideally, you'd have some sort of express tunnel beneath the existing Cross Bronx out to the Bruckner, or a new crossing north of the GWB and meeting up with the New England Thruway to the east and a northern extension of the NJ Tpke to the west, going north from its present terminus, then curving east.  And to handle the trucks coming down from CT, a new crossing to Long Island, extending I-287, would alleviate some traffic as well.

All options.... $$$$$$ and would take some political wrangling to get through. 

A relatively cheaper option:  expand RR freight.  However you'd have to have some sort of way to get across the Hudson/harbor in the NYC area... something closer than Albany!

Maybe even closer than Poughkeepsie, where the now-Walkway over the Hudson was a key RR bridge until c. 1974 when it was damaged by fire.

ixnay

[Alps]

through some of my own investigation i was looking at how many trucks travel on the Cross Bronx Expressway alone the NYSDOT should make the left lane on the Cross Bronx into a (Truck-trailer) lane from just after the Bruckner interchange and will run express all the way over the Alexander Hamilton Bridge with intermittent entrance and exit points to access the Major Deegan and the Sheridan to some of the congestion from trucks now however this wont solve the weaving problem of trucks accessing the upper level from the major Deegan but it will open up some capacity and will allow for goods to move through the corridor more safely and efficiently. What are your thoughts on this?

No way can you take capacity away. If you want to talk about adding a lane somehow (tunneling under the frontage roads and cantilevering them) I'm game.

[fmendes]

through some of my own investigation i was looking at how many trucks travel on the Cross Bronx Expressway alone the NYSDOT should make the left lane on the Cross Bronx into a (Truck-trailer) lane from just after the Bruckner interchange and will run express all the way over the Alexander Hamilton Bridge with intermittent entrance and exit points to access the Major Deegan and the Sheridan to some of the congestion from trucks now however this wont solve the weaving problem of trucks accessing the upper level from the major Deegan but it will open up some capacity and will allow for goods to move through the corridor more safely and efficiently. What are your thoughts on this?

No way can you take capacity away. If you want to talk about adding a lane somehow (tunneling under the frontage roads and cantilevering them) I'm game.

what like they did at Grand Central that really would be the only way to widen the cross bronx the only problem is the bridge at grand concourse it has a subway line that runs through it

[mariethefoxy]

through some of my own investigation i was looking at how many trucks travel on the Cross Bronx Expressway alone the NYSDOT should make the left lane on the Cross Bronx into a (Truck-trailer) lane from just after the Bruckner interchange and will run express all the way over the Alexander Hamilton Bridge with intermittent entrance and exit points to access the Major Deegan and the Sheridan to some of the congestion from trucks now however this wont solve the weaving problem of trucks accessing the upper level from the major Deegan but it will open up some capacity and will allow for goods to move through the corridor more safely and efficiently. What are your thoughts on this?

They should just let the trucks use the lower level again

[RobbieL2415]

I was always aware of Broadway being severed at Times Square to create a pedestrian mall, but unware of it also being closed at Macy's and Herald Square.  GSV shows a barrier at 35th Street right before the area on NBC each Thanksgiving where the parade acts stop to face the cameras and perform for the NBC audience.  I am guessing that once the pandemic is over and things get back to normal, that barrier will be removed to allow parade floats and marchers to continue and perform in front of Macy's for the viewing audience.  I do not see them relocating and being Macy's is the sponsor of the Parade, they are not going to give up of photo op of their front door on world wide TV.

I'd love to see the entirety of Broadway from Columbus Circle to Union Square become a pedestrian walkway, using signals with gates to control movement at intersections.

[storm2k]

Saw a new sign contract coming up and it included spot improvements for signage around NYC including the FDR Drive.  This little beauty is marked for replacement.


Plus signage for I-495 NB on the FDR so hopefully the recent bubble shields will go away. Of course now I can't find the link

I believe that would be part of this project and it looks like that particular sign is just being eliminated entirely.