During the 2019 L train shutdown, an area of 14th Street will become a busway, baring other vehicles besides bus traffic.
During the 2019 L train shutdown, an area of 14th Street will be restricted to mostly bus traffic for 17 hours a day, barring other vehicles from clogging up the road.
The L train shutdown is slated to begin April 2019. Photo: Wikimedia Commons |
Officials are proposing that 14th Street turn into a 17-hour-a-day
busway during the L train shutdown, New York City Department of
Transportation confirmed, restricting vehicle traffic on the roadway in
order to accommodate displaced commuters.
The changes were originally reported by the New York Daily News,
which cited court documents, and confirmed to Metro by DOT, which is
working with the MTA on travel accommodations for L train riders.
For months, transit advocates with Riders Alliance have been calling
for the city to enact a busway on 14th Street during the L train
shutdown. Previously, officials said that 14th Street between Third and
Ninth Avenues would be limited to just bus traffic only during rush
hours.
Riders Alliance had been calling for a 24/7 busway along 14th Street
to help out commuters, but still voiced support for the city’s
announcement of a busway for 17 hours a day.
"Thanks to Mayor de Blasio and the Department of Transportation, L
train riders and people who live near the L train can rest easier,” said
Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director with the alliance,
in a statement. “With shuttle buses prioritized on 14th Street and the
Williamsburg Bridge between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m., the MTA can provide a
robust replacement for the crowded L train morning, noon, and night
alike.”
Fifty thousand people currently ride the L train along 14th Street
every day in Manhattan alone per MTA data, transit groups previously
noted. If there were not a strong bus plan in place during the L train
shutdown, advocates of the busway said, it could cause as many as 42,000
extra vehicles to clog 14th Street.
Between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week during the shutdown,
residents and visitors will be able to use 14th Street for dropoffs and
pickups only. Through traffic will be discouraged.
“L riders will have transit they can rely on,” Pearlstein added. “And
residents along the L can count on riders to use transit rather than
cause congestion and pollution by taking cars, taxis and for-hire
vehicles."
DOT is planning to install two one-way bike lanes on 12th and 13th
Street in Manhattan to accommodate more kinds of commuters, and also is
proposing HOV hours on the Williamsburg Bridge from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
seven days a week.
Judy Pesin of the 14th Street Coalition,
a group of residents and businesses formed in response to the L train
shutdown, said that it was surprising to hear the news of the busway two
days before City Council is set to hold a public hearing about the line’s closure.
Pesin said that the coalition is concerned about how this restricted
traffic will affect the residents and businesses on 14th Street, as well
as if it will impact traffic on side roads in the neighborhood.
“You can’t compare to Time Square, it’s not a residential
neighborhood,” she said of such restricted traffic. “What experience do
we have with this? How do we cope? …Frankly, we were looking forward to
information at the public hearing.”
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