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[Mergingtraffic]

I was thinking of creating a thread for NYC roads for awhile now...so here goes, like the New Jersey or Connecticut threads you can post items (articles, discussions, old photos, new photos, maps) about the 5 boroughs here:

First up:
HOV Lane extension on I-278.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/governor_announces_opening_of.html

Will this realllllly help?

Also, do you think the Kew Gardens interchange will actually help things?  Although I can't find any plans of it online.

[NJRoadfan]

Some vintage shots of the old West Side Highway (including some signs): https://www.flickr.com/photos/m-joedicke/sets/72157622861957575

[Zeffy]

First up:
HOV Lane extension on I-278.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/governor_announces_opening_of.html

It's great they are trying to improve the hell that is the Staten Island Expressway, except this is more like a band-aid, if that. This is the ONLY highway that runs through Staten Island connecting New Jersey with another borough. There simply needs to be another. The freeway is too substandard to support the amount of traffic combined with the horrible driving skills demonstrated by tri-state area drivers.

[Alps]

I was thinking of creating a thread for NYC roads for awhile now...so here goes, like the New Jersey or Connecticut threads you can post items (articles, discussions, old photos, new photos, maps) about the 5 boroughs here:

First up:
HOV Lane extension on I-278.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/governor_announces_opening_of.html

Will this realllllly help?

Also, do you think the Kew Gardens interchange will actually help things?  Although I can't find any plans of it online.

The HOV lane extension will help once it makes it back toward the new Goethals. Until then, there are too many sources of traffic jams in Staten Island and something will always cause trouble. (A climbing lane up Todt Hill would really hit the spot, nao...)

Kew Gardens work won't help things. The backup is simply due to too many freeway cancellations. If the Clearview connected to the Nassau, you'd have a north-south relief route that would free up the Van Wyck. If the Cross-Brooklyn or Bushwick existed, you'd be able to clear up the traffic from JFK north to the LIE.

[D-Dey65]

First up:
HOV Lane extension on I-278.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/governor_announces_opening_of.html

It's great they are trying to improve the hell that is the Staten Island Expressway, except this is more like a band-aid, if that. This is the ONLY highway that runs through Staten Island connecting New Jersey with another borough. There simply needs to be another.

Yes, they need to revive the formerly proposed Richmond Parkway extension to Todt Hill, and extend the West Shore Expressway north to the Willowbrook Expressway. They should also extend the Willowbrook Parkway to Great Kills Park. I know I'm using the old names, but that's besides the point. 

[The Ghostbuster]

From what I've seen and read about NYC Roads, their right-of-ways are so constrained, there is little one can do to improve them.

[Zeffy]

Well it's a large area with a lot of rowhouses and tight grid streets. ROW is almost nonexistent in terms of highway projects in New York City.

[noelbotevera]

Do it like the Cypress Viaduct in Oakland. When it collapses, put it on a new alignment, a new structure, and a new government. Just not give a crap and give any citizens or building a second thought. Just rebuild it all.

[xcellntbuy]

Some vintage shots of the old West Side Highway (including some signs): https://www.flickr.com/photos/m-joedicke/sets/72157622861957575

Great old photos.  My first drive to New York City was when I was age 17 (1977) and the old West Side Highway was still standing in many, many places.  West Street was oriented under or around it from 56th Street to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.  It was quite a ride with my family.

The pictures are quite historic.  Not only is the Highway gone, many of the docks and buildings are gone and so is the then-virtually brand new World Trade Center.

[Mergingtraffic]

From what I've seen and read about NYC Roads, their right-of-ways are so constrained, there is little one can do to improve them.

I think there are some things they can do like adding extra capacity for queuing cars on exits ramps on the Major Deegan etc. 

There's this project coming up on the Harlem River Drive
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141110/east-harlem/125th-street-headed-for-3-years-of-detours-amid-harlem-river-drive-repairs

I also saw a project that will add a lane on I-95 NB between Wilkinson Ave and the Hutch.

There's things that can be done but even if they don't take a lot of land they are politically incorrect to do.

[Duke87]

There's this project coming up on the Harlem River Drive
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141110/east-harlem/125th-street-headed-for-3-years-of-detours-amid-harlem-river-drive-repairs

From the article:

The Harlem River Drive Reconstruction Project, which includes rebuilding the 127th Street viaduct and adding a left side exit lane on Third Avenue,

Oh boy. What's currently a right exit is now going to be a left exit. That'll be fun.

In an odd way it makes sense, though, since doing this will eliminate the weave with the ramp from the 3rd Ave bridge. There isn't another feasible way of achieving that short of eliminating the ramp altogether.

Of course, so long as the lane drop at the Triboro exit and the following S-curve still remain, this won't stop being a perpetual traffic trouble spot.

I also saw a project that will add a lane on I-95 NB between Wilkinson Ave and the Hutch.

Okay now this I'm intrigued by!

It appears to be merely "In Development", though. Read: no details are available and odds are it won't actually happen.

Considering this is another major bottleneck, though, it could be damned helpful if done right.

[Rothman]

Never believe NYCDOT until the job is actually let.  The article seems it's relying upon draft documents.  Maybe someone is trying to stir up NIMBYs?

[D-Dey65]

Another question, this time about the reconstruction of the Van Wyck Expressway; Does NYSDOT #11 plan to add an overhead sign gantry over Main Street at the southbound exits for Queens Boulevard and the Van Wyck, or are they afraid of the potential uproar by NIMBYists?

[yanksfan6129]

Do it like the Cypress Viaduct in Oakland. When it collapses, put it on a new alignment, a new structure, and a new government. Just not give a crap and give any citizens or building a second thought. Just rebuild it all.

Yeah fuck democracy!

[Mergingtraffic]

Nassau Expwy Signage along Belt Pkwy all gone.
Replaced with Ok signage that has both the NY-878 and I-679 shields on them.









Also note on the Whitestone Bridge all 3 lanes are now open including the last exit before the tolls NB.  Seems like a luxury. 

[noelbotevera]

I-679

I-679 eh? I have NY 877! 

[D-Dey65]

Who has info on the Pulaski Bridge on-ramp stub that seems to have been intended to lead to the Long Island Expressway?

[J Route Z]

I hate the small "dept of transportation" logos on every sign, especially the big green highway ones. They look better without them. On the old button copy ones, there were small reference numbers that also were annoying. NY was the only state I recall seeing these.

[Alps]

Who has info on the Pulaski Bridge on-ramp stub that seems to have been intended to lead to the Long Island Expressway?

It was.

[Duke87]

Who has info on the Pulaski Bridge on-ramp stub that seems to have been intended to lead to the Long Island Expressway?

Historic Aerials tells us that it has been there unchanged since the current bridge was built in the 1950s, at which time the Queens Midtown Tunnel and the highway leading to it already existed.

Beyond that, I know nothing and can only speculate.

But it is a logical assumption that the intended destination was the eastbound LIE. Consider that this movement would have been relatively simply with the old bridge one block to the west (make a right on Borden, make the next left onto the highway) but is convoluted with the current bridge sans that ramp (make a left, a right, and then three more lefts).

[SidS1045]

On the old button copy ones, there were small reference numbers that also were annoying. NY was the only state I recall seeing these.

MA has been using them for decades.

[M3019C LPS20]

I hate the small "dept of transportation" logos on every sign, especially the big green highway ones. They look better without them.

From a collector's point of view, I think that label helps identify it as a genuine New York City sign and differentiates it from others manufactured for other municipalities in the country.


Just my two cents.

[cl94]

I hate the small "dept of transportation" logos on every sign, especially the big green highway ones. They look better without them.

From a collector's point of view, I think that label helps identify it as a genuine New York City sign and differentiates it from others manufactured for other municipalities in the country.


Just my two cents.

Lowers the resale value. Seriously. If someone tries to sell it, the logo gives it away as a stolen sign.

[Duke87]

Lowers the resale value. Seriously. If someone tries to sell it, the logo gives it away as a stolen sign.

How so? Plenty of signs enter private possession perfectly legally after they are retired. NYCDOT has even in the past explicitly sold old street signs to individuals rather than scrapping them.

Meanwhile the presence of that text alone hardly confirms that a sign is genuine, since anyone making signs could put it there. But its absence might suggest that a sign is either fake or not from New York City. Suggest, mind you - there are plenty of real NYCDOT signs in the wild without that text on them!

[M3019C LPS20]

I hate the small "dept of transportation" logos on every sign, especially the big green highway ones. They look better without them.

From a collector's point of view, I think that label helps identify it as a genuine New York City sign and differentiates it from others manufactured for other municipalities in the country.


Just my two cents.

Lowers the resale value. Seriously. If someone tries to sell it, the logo gives it away as a stolen sign.

I would have to disagree with you on that to some extent. It depends on what the sign is and how valuable it may be to a collector. Some that have the old "DEPARTMENT OF TRAFFIC" labels (pre-1977) sell for more than others that are fairly newer. I'm just basing this observation from buying and selling them on the EBay market for the last several years.

Also, in the past (we're talking over 30 years ago), as the user above me mentioned, the former Department of Traffic used to have public auctions if old signs retired. The folks used to auction old traffic signal equipment as well.

Fast forward to 2015, and times have changed. Unless you know someone in the industry, the D.O.T. technically cannot take down a sign and give it to someone. It must be scrapped. The main reason is that it cannot be put up once again on an actual street corner, which is illegal. This is primarily why the NYCDOT sign store manufactures replicas of NYC signs single-sided rather than double-sided.