Michael Primeggia

Wanted: A New Traffic Boss for New York City

The New York City Department of Transportation is posting a job ad seeking a new Deputy Commissioner of Traffic Operations. That's because Michael Primeggia is retiring. After 30+ years in city government, New York City's chief traffic engineer, a man who referred to the city's streets as "my streets," will work his last day on Friday, February 13. DOT staff threw a party for him on Friday evening.

By Aaron Naparstek

4:58 PM EST on February 2, 2009

You won’t have Primeggia to kick around anymore.

The New York City Department of Transportation is posting a job ad seeking a new Deputy Commissioner of Traffic Operations. That’s because Michael Primeggia is retiring. After 30+ years in city government, New York City’s chief traffic engineer, a man who referred to the city’s streets as “my streets,” will work his last day on Friday, February 13. DOT staff threw a party for him on Friday evening.

Primeggia leaves a mixed legacy. Many livable streets advocates will forever know him as “Dr. No,” the classic, cars-first traffic engineer who repeatedly argued against car-free parks, delayed and killed bike, pedestrian and traffic-calming improvements and sought to convert slow-moving, neighborhood-friendly two-way streets into one-way thruways. Yet, in recent years, under the leadership of Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Primeggia has been instrumental in helping to implement progressive projects like Summer Streets, physically-protected bike lanes and new pedestrian plazas.

Regardless of what you think of him, Primeggia’s retirement provides Sadik-Khan with an opportunity to hire a powerful and potentially long-lasting member of the city’s transportation bureaucracy. What kind of employee should she be looking for?

Here’s one thought: How about a planner instead of an engineer?

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.

Michael Primeggia