Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
"Gridlock" Sam Schwartz

Streetfilms: An Interview with Sam Schwartz

2:26 PM EST on February 2, 2007

Sam Schwartz, aka "Gridlock Sam," is best-known to many New Yorkers
through his Daily News column about the city's quotidian traffic woes. Schwartz is the president and
CEO of Sam Schwartz LLC, a traffic planning and engineering firm
that has worked on projects including the JFK AirTrain, the IKEA project in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and the World Trade Center Memorial.  Before he moved to the private sector in 1990, Schwartz served as NYC traffic commissioner and as deputy commissioner of transportation in the Koch administration. He sat
recently with Mark Gorton, president and founder of the Open Planning Project, to discuss congestion pricing, cars in parks, and the way pedestrians in this city don't get much respect from traffic planners. As the city begins looking for a new transportation commissioner to replace Iris Weinshall, this interview is worth watching:

"We should be getting the message that we can't rely on gasoline and we can't rely on the private automobile to handle mass transportation."
Running time: 9 minutes 49 seconds

"The people in the transportation community that are on the far right...and on the far left agree that the best solution, the most capitalist solution and the most socialist solution, is the same solution: It's congestion pricing."
Running time: 9 minutes 57 seconds

"Walking is the dominant mode [of travel]. But when the calculations are being done, calculations for pedestrians are almost nonexistent."
Running time: 8 minutes 13 seconds

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Carnage

Report: Road Violence Hits Record in First Quarter of 2024

Sixty people died in the first three months of the year, 50 percent more than the first quarter of 2018, which was the safest opening three months of any Vision Zero year.

April 25, 2024
Department of Sanitation

Street Sweepers Could Nab Illegal Parking Under State Bill

Smile for the street-sweeper!

April 25, 2024
Today's Headlines

Thursday’s Headlines: The Way of Water Edition

The "Blue Highways" campaign wants the mayor to convert a downtown heliport into a freight delivery hub. Plus more news.

April 25, 2024
Delivery trucks

DOT Will Spend $11M to Boost Off-Hour Deliveries

April 25, 2024
MTA

Gotcha-Heimer! Anti-Congestion Pricing Jersey Rep. With a City Speeding Ticket Drove to Manhattan on Wednesday

New Jersey's most vociferous opponent of congestion pricing parked illegally and once got a speeding ticket.

April 24, 2024
See all posts