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NYC Roads

Started by Mergingtraffic, September 02, 2015, 03:30:46 PM

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Duke87

Yeah, note these little vents visible on street view. And the cable going in on the left. And all of the "WSNY" manhole covers.

WSNY is "Water Supply of New York", so from that we can infer that the area under there serves some purpose related to such.
If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.


cl94

Quote from: Duke87 on October 07, 2017, 06:02:45 PM
Yeah, note these little vents visible on street view. And the cable going in on the left. And all of the "WSNY" manhole covers.

WSNY is "Water Supply of New York", so from that we can infer that the area under there serves some purpose related to such.

Water supply is the most likely reason. 1954 aerial shows nothing other than the jut-out and the thing didn't open until 1936. I'll try to remember to ask my grandfather if there was anything else there the next time I talk to him (he grew up a couple blocks away on 42nd Street)
Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

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D-Dey65

I thought it might've been a proposed ramp, or an old ramp or something like that. Sort of a two-lane road that becomes a left exit going towards the Triborough Bridge and a left entrance going the other way.

MikeCL

Man by the time I start driving back to the city these signs are going to look so different lol

route17fan

D263552 is a NYSDOT (mostly overhead) signing contract. Under supplemental information and sign face layouts is a new design for the Grand Central Parkway shield. It's worth checking out. Overheads include mainly the Bronx River Parkway, and one for Van Dam St on the LIE, a couple for I-278, among others.

https://www.dot.ny.gov/doing-business/opportunities/const-contract-docs?p_d_id=D263552
John Krakoff - Cleveland, Ohio

hubcity

Quote from: route17fan on November 02, 2017, 05:47:18 AM
D263552 is a NYSDOT (mostly overhead) signing contract. Under supplemental information and sign face layouts is a new design for the Grand Central Parkway shield. It's worth checking out. Overheads include mainly the Bronx River Parkway, and one for Van Dam St on the LIE, a couple for I-278, among others.

https://www.dot.ny.gov/doing-business/opportunities/const-contract-docs?p_d_id=D263552

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm having a tough time opening anything on that page. Can you (or anyone else) post an image?

cl94

Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

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storm2k

Quote from: hubcity on November 03, 2017, 11:47:43 AM
Quote from: route17fan on November 02, 2017, 05:47:18 AM
D263552 is a NYSDOT (mostly overhead) signing contract. Under supplemental information and sign face layouts is a new design for the Grand Central Parkway shield. It's worth checking out. Overheads include mainly the Bronx River Parkway, and one for Van Dam St on the LIE, a couple for I-278, among others.

https://www.dot.ny.gov/doing-business/opportunities/const-contract-docs?p_d_id=D263552

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm having a tough time opening anything on that page. Can you (or anyone else) post an image?



Looks like a sharp shield. I like how it incorporates the Unisphere. Maybe they'll start doing this style shields for other parkways. An update for the Belt Pkwy in this style with the lighthouse would be nice too.

storm2k

Also of interest from that contract, they are looking to move a lot of signs off structures and onto ground mounts. Cost savings for not having to maintain the overhead structures, I guess?

cl94

A couple years ago, R11 announced that they're moving to this shield with a unique symbol for each of the parkways inside city limits. The Belt won't get a lighthouse (besides those signs that have been up for years) because Henry Hudson has a lighthouse.
Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

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Mergingtraffic

The I-895 sign on the BRP is recent and it's already being replaced.
I only take pics of good looking signs. Long live non-reflective button copy!
MergingTraffic https://www.flickr.com/photos/98731835@N05/

storm2k

Quote from: cl94 on November 03, 2017, 12:34:05 PM
A couple years ago, R11 announced that they're moving to this shield with a unique symbol for each of the parkways inside city limits. The Belt won't get a lighthouse (besides those signs that have been up for years) because Henry Hudson has a lighthouse.

Did they put out what each parkway will have for a symbol?

Duke87

Quote from: storm2k on November 05, 2017, 11:06:02 PM
Did they put out what each parkway will have for a symbol?

No, all they've said publicly is that it will be different for each. I do know that when the Henry Hudson shields first showed up a few years ago, we were told that more designs for other parkways would be coming but they were still working on making sure there weren't any intellectual property issues with any of the images they were looking to use. No word on whether that process has been completed or not.

I would figure at this point that the debut of other designs is simply waiting for the parkway in question to have a sign project. They're not going to go around removing perfectly good signs to replace them with these, the new designs will show up only in places where an old shield was due for replacement.


If you always take the same road, you will never see anything new.

cpzilliacus

N.Y. Times: New York's Tilt Toward Congestion Pricing Was Years in the Making

For decades, the plan to reduce traffic by charging drivers in crowded zones in Manhattan has been revived again and again.

QuoteIt is the Lazarus of congestion plans: reduce traffic in New York City by charging drivers in crowded areas at peak traffic times.

QuoteFor decades, urban planners, economists, city officials and business leaders have revived again and again some version of a toll system both to manage the city's worsening traffic and provide more revenue for public transit. Over and over it was batted down, only to be resurrected, most recently in August when Governor Andrew M. Cuomo declared that "congestion pricing is an idea whose time has come."

QuoteNow a state task force, called Fix NYC, has been assembled with the goal of developing another congestion pricing plan. It has been nine years since the last major effort by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg died in Albany after state legislative leaders refused to bring it to a vote. Mr. Cuomo, after once expressing doubt about congestion pricing's chances, is expected to unveil a plan early next year and make it a centerpiece of his legislative agenda.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

cl94

Honestly, congestion pricing is a necessity. There's no reason for most people to be driving into Manhattan. But unlike many, I believe that trucks should be charged less than cars. That's probably the easiest way to solve the delivery issues in the City if retailers are unwilling to go off-hours.
Please note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of my employer or any of its partner agencies.

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Rothman

If there were no reason to drive into Manhattan, then people wouldn't do it.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Alps

Quote from: Rothman on November 29, 2017, 01:51:30 PM
If there were no reason to drive into Manhattan, then people wouldn't do it.
Exactly. When I want to go to Long Island, I have to drive through Manhattan to do it (realistically).

SignBridge

Many people drive into Manhattan because they are not familiar with or confident in mass-transit. Several times I have met fellow Long Islanders in Midtown-Manhattan for lunch and I have taken the train and subway while they drove in, got caught in traffic jams and parked in an expensive garage. Oh well......

empirestate

Quote from: cl94 on November 29, 2017, 01:47:58 PM
Honestly, congestion pricing is a necessity. There's no reason for most people to be driving into Manhattan.

There's not no reason; I drive into Manhattan occasionally. Usually I prefer the train, but sometimes that means an eight-hour day when I only have three hours of actual work to do. Driving in can significantly shorten those lead times predicated by the train timetable, and I can often find parking for about what it would cost to buy the train ticket.

More to the point, though, is that if there were no reason to drive into Manhattan, then congestion pricing wouldn't be a necessity–in fact, it would be pointless because nobody would pay it!

ixnay

Is there a reason for people to drive into central London, which has congestion pricing?

ixnay
The Washington/Baltimore/Arlington CSA has two Key Bridges, a Minnesota Avenue, and a Mannasota Avenue.

dgolub

Quote from: Alps on November 29, 2017, 06:45:25 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 29, 2017, 01:51:30 PM
If there were no reason to drive into Manhattan, then people wouldn't do it.
Exactly. When I want to go to Long Island, I have to drive through Manhattan to do it (realistically).

Ideally, the best solution to this would be to either build the Mid-Manhattan Expressway or have a tunnel under Manhattan connecting I-495 and NJ 495.  Absent that, they might be able to address this issue by refunding part of the toll for motorists who exit within a short time (perhaps half an hour) of entering so that through traffic doesn't get penalized by congestion pricing.  In fact, through traffic might benefit because you wouldn't have to share the road with all the people driving into Manhattan who could be taking the train.

storm2k

Quote from: dgolub on November 30, 2017, 08:56:33 AM
Quote from: Alps on November 29, 2017, 06:45:25 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 29, 2017, 01:51:30 PM
If there were no reason to drive into Manhattan, then people wouldn't do it.
Exactly. When I want to go to Long Island, I have to drive through Manhattan to do it (realistically).

Ideally, the best solution to this would be to either build the Mid-Manhattan Expressway or have a tunnel under Manhattan connecting I-495 and NJ 495.  Absent that, they might be able to address this issue by refunding part of the toll for motorists who exit within a short time (perhaps half an hour) of entering so that through traffic doesn't get penalized by congestion pricing.  In fact, through traffic might benefit because you wouldn't have to share the road with all the people driving into Manhattan who could be taking the train.

No, the idea is to shunt them around midtown through other means. The problem is that most of those other means will likely see heavier traffic and are already saturated as is.

empirestate

Quote from: dgolub on November 30, 2017, 08:56:33 AM
In fact, through traffic might benefit because you wouldn't have to share the road with all the people driving into Manhattan who could be taking the train.

I wonder what proportion of Manhattan traffic actually falls into this category, though? It's not as if the trains are a secret–an awful lot of "people who could be taking the train" are, in fact, taking the train. Do we have any numbers on this? Presumably any congestion pricing initiative would have studied this very question.

cl94

Of course, the same anti-pricing arguments were used in Stockholm when they first introduced congestion pricing. Support was around 35% just before implementation. It had majority support almost immediately and increased to 70% by 2014. Plenty of papers backing that up and this is an area I do research in.

The reduction in traffic doesn't have to be large for there to be major savings. Yes, research into this has been done but, as far as New York, I do not have actual numbers. The reality of the matter is that relatively few people need to drive to a destination in Manhattan unless they're making a delivery. And the congestion charge is a drop in the bucket relative to what parking in Manhattan actually costs.

As far as "but what if someone needs to go through Manhattan": proposals generally place Upper Manhattan outside of the cordon area and some reduce the charge for vehicles just passing from one of the tunnels to Long Island. Tolls outside the cordon area would be reduced.

Quote from: storm2k on November 30, 2017, 11:42:48 AM
No, the idea is to shunt them around midtown through other means. The problem is that most of those other means will likely see heavier traffic and are already saturated as is.

False, the idea is to get them to use public transit.
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vdeane

Quote from: dgolub on November 30, 2017, 08:56:33 AM
Quote from: Alps on November 29, 2017, 06:45:25 PM
Quote from: Rothman on November 29, 2017, 01:51:30 PM
If there were no reason to drive into Manhattan, then people wouldn't do it.
Exactly. When I want to go to Long Island, I have to drive through Manhattan to do it (realistically).

Ideally, the best solution to this would be to either build the Mid-Manhattan Expressway or have a tunnel under Manhattan connecting I-495 and NJ 495.  Absent that, they might be able to address this issue by refunding part of the toll for motorists who exit within a short time (perhaps half an hour) of entering so that through traffic doesn't get penalized by congestion pricing.  In fact, through traffic might benefit because you wouldn't have to share the road with all the people driving into Manhattan who could be taking the train.
I could see Uber drivers darting in and out (creating extra traffic) to avoid the charges if that happened.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.



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