A truck fire has shut down the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in both directions around DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights. I just biked back to Brooklyn from the Open Planning Project office in Lower Manhattan and, wow!, I have never seen a traffic jam as bad as the one that is currently underway in and around Downtown Brooklyn. From the Brooklyn Bridge, down Adams Street, into Boerum Hill, along 3rd and 4th Avenues, up Union Street into Park Slope -- virtually every intersection is gridlocked, drivers are pissed out of their minds and the horn honking is unbelievable. A fender bender on the BQE has, it seems, shut down a good portion of New York City's automobile transportation system.
If anyone happens to be biking home over the Brooklyn Bridge with a digital camera, snap a few photos for us. If ever there was an advertisement for bike commuting and mass transit, this is it.
