Today’s Headlines

  • NYPD: No Charges for Driver Who Backed Into Crosswalk and Killed Lee Strong, 83 (Gothamist, DNA)
  • George Mamales, 85, Succumbs to Injuries Inflicted by Truck Driver on West End Ave (WSR)
  • Hit-and-Run Truck Driver Severely Injures Cyclist in Midtown; Victim Could Lose Leg (Gothamist)
  • Preet Nets Cuomo Insider Joe Percoco (NYT, Politico); Politico Compares Cuomo, Christie Scandals
  • Port Authority Has Five PABT Designs It Probably Won’t Use (Crain’s, AMNY, Politico, Post)
  • Sandy Repairs Could Affect PATH Service for Eight Years (PIX)
  • Port Authority Plan for LaGuardia Gridlock Is Another Gridlocked Lane (Post)
  • DNA Reporter Leslie Albrecht’s Story on Park Slope Bike Corral Is Shameless Bikelash Clickbait
  • De Blasio Considering Canarsie Ferry Stop (Bklyn Daily)
  • TA and Gothamist Launch 14th Street Redesign Contest — Here’s What Not to Do
  • Hit-and-Run Driver Strikes Midtown TEA; ABC, Metro: NYPD Unsure If Accident Was an Accident
  • Damn Citi Bike (Gothamist, Advance)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • Vooch

    map of six months worth of traffic violence on UES – it’s horrifying https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0442e34582153e3bb30a0658a7a6cf32c895a6a985ed3c3e680cb30a5153519a.jpg

  • sbauman

    There’s a fairly easy way to eliminate gridlock during the LaGuardia Airport reconstruction. Follow the same example of the Canarsie Tunnels. Close the airport during construction and divert the flights and passengers to the City’s other two airports.

    Approximately 265,000 people use the Canarsie Tunnels on an average weekday. Approximately 100,000 people use LaGuardia Airport on a busy day.

  • ohnonononono

    The new lane at LGA should AT LEAST be a HOV-3 lane if not an actual bus lane. This mismanagement is making me believe the conspiracy theory that it’s intentional delay to make Cuomo’s stupid AirTrain look like the only solution.

  • ohnonononono

    That would just shift the gridlock to JFK and EWR, and induce more people to travel further distances to get to those airports. Not really thinking big there…

  • JudenChino

    This so obvious it’s painful. It’s not as bad as the “well, if you close a street to car traffic that will just jam up the streets around it” fallacy. But you’d think actual traffic engineers should get this one right. The Q70 needs a dedicated freaking lane. It’s an insult and a half to have it wait in regular traffic. Christ. I really am going to just take JFK/EWR for the next 5 years.

  • Vooch

    ditto for M60, should also have dedicated bus lane in Queens to LGA

  • Vooch

    you are so clever – indeed close LGA for rehab. If the L train can be shut down for rehab, then why not LGA ?

  • Komanoff

    Re lead item (killing of Lee Strong in UES x-walk): Section 4-07(d) of N.Y.C. Traffic Rules reads: “Restrictions on backing. No person shall back a vehicle into an intersection or over a crosswalk … ” So 19-190 charges will be filed, um, when?

  • Joe Enoch

    I can’t even count the number of times where a backing up vehicle would have crushed me as a pedestrian if it weren’t for the fact that I’m able-bodied and able to evade them. Ironically, it’s often the elderly in the UES who most vocally oppose anything that would make the neighborhood safer.

  • ahwr

    All the elderly, or just the ones who drive and are most likely to hit someone while backing up their car?

  • MatthewEH

    Assuming you’re not being completely sarcastic:

    Half of air traffic delays in the whole nation originate in the crowded airspaces and limited runway capacity of the three NYC airports. La Guardia represents, what, 25-30% of that capacity? The repercussions would be astonishing and would affect many, many more people than the 100,000 people directly using LGA.

  • MatthewEH

    Happened to me a few times too. And god forbid if you yell at the driver or, say, slap the trunk-panel of their car to get their attention. You’ve just assaulted their ego and you’re obviously the a-hole.

  • van_vlissingen

    Why not implement a congestion charge on flights to ensure that:
    1. flights from third tier cities go to a regional hub before coming to NYC?
    2. airlines use bigger planes?

  • bolwerk

    Must be more than that if there is a sizable population of taxi-dependent elderly.

  • MatthewEH

    Hey, I’m not saying any of those ideas are without merit. They’d require careful examination — it’s a complex system and relatively simple changes may have far-reaching unexpected consequences — but it could be better over all.

    But that’s an awfully small tail (“it would be nice if we could shut down LGA for a year to complete an airport revamp”) wagging an awfully big dog (“let’s reform how is flight planning done in the US on a national basis”).

  • Brian Howald

    If I’m not mistaken, the pedestrian killed last week was standing in the exact same spot crosswalk at SW corner of 71st Street and 3rd Avenue as the man killed by yet another driver reversing into the crosswalk in May.

    http://nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/elderly-driver-backs-pedestrian-pinning-cars-article-1.2631824