Tuesday’s Headlines: Low-Traffic Edition

It’s a big week for the concept of “low-traffic neighborhoods,” which is the term that the Brits (and some savvy New Yorkers) use to describe a road configuration that uses diversions or other street design to reduce cut-through traffic while still allowing drivers to get where they want to go — just slower.

Last week, in the latest episode of its podcast, Curb Enthusiasm, the Department of Transportation touted the “low-traffic neighborhood” strategy — even using the term for the first time (beyond letting Clarence Eckerson use the term in his Curb Enthusiasm appearance). The episode features James McAsh, a Council Leader in London’s borough of Southwark, which is more like a New York neighborhood than a New York borough.

Under questioning from DOT’s Emily Weidenhof and Huma Husain, McAsh reveals the simple genius of limiting through traffic to perimeter streets so that neighborhoods can thrive.

In one neighborhood that he described, people’s “experience of traffic is people from outside your neighborhood driving through it,” McAsh said. “And when that goes away, it’s really really nice. All of a sudden, you know, your kids can play outside and you know, you can hear the birds and you can walk around, it’s a nice place to be.”

And in case business owners have concerns, McAsh channeled our own DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn, speaking on an earlier episode, about the misperception of many business owners.

“Often businesses will feel that a lot of their customers come by car [but] we found overwhelming is that turns out not to be the case,” McAsh said. “The perception by shop owners is [business from car owners] is much, much higher. And the reason for that is if you’re driving, you’re more likely to do a single big purchase. … But if you’re walking, you’re more likely to go along the High Street [what the Brits call Main Street] and do lots of little purchases. You know, you go to the coffee shop, you go buy a pair of jeans next. And actually the average spent is higher for, pedestrians visiting our High Streets than it is for car owners.”

Beyond podcasts, the DOT is taking action: On Tuesday, the agency will join neighbors and advocates in cutting the ribbon on the Avenue B “street improvement project.” DOT is not using the term “low-traffic neighborhood,” but it may function as one, thanks to the centerpiece: conversion of the two-way Avenue B to northbound only between E. Seventh and E. 10th streets. We’re sending one of our top-flight reporters to the event this morning at 10 a.m. for a full report later.

In other news from a quiet Indigenous Peoples’ Day in New York:

• Mayor Mamdani wants to review the NYPD’s use of force — but will there actually be changes? (NY Times with the exclusive, followed by the NYDN, NY Post, Gothamist and The City Reporter)
• Our friend Austin Celestin was the lead quote in amNY‘s coverage of last week’s MTA rummage sale.
• It’s nice to see Queens electeds calling for safety improvements at a Woodside intersection where Nishath Jannath, 19, was killed by a garbage truck driver. (QNS)
• We’ve been chronicling the slow growth of the “blue highway” for a while now, but Gothamist joined the fun yesterday.
• An Upper East Side accessibility project is delayed. (Patch)
• This Daily News editorial on fare evasion was a bit of a kitchen sink — except it failed to call out the feds for starving transit in the first place.