Blaz Rx for city’s clogged arteries
THE CITY is launching a plan to ease congestion on its trafficsnarled streets — restricting deliveries and cracking down on drivers who block intersections.
Mayor de Blasio unveiled the plan Sunday, with a goal of boosting traffic speeds in Midtown by 10% by the end of 2018. The NYPD will hire 160 cops for enforcement.
“It’s too hard to get around,” de Blasio said at a Midtown press conference. “We know we can make this city less congested. We know we can speed up people’s rides.”
De Blasio has resisted backing congestion pricing, even as Gov. Cuomo has thrown his support behind the idea to charge drivers to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan and use that money for transit improvements.
With Sunday’s long-promised plan, de Blasio is attempting to show the city can make a dent in gridlock without a charge, focusing on easing traffic rather than discouraging people from driving.
The city will ban all deliveries during rush hour in a chunk of Midtown, as well as on a stretch of Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn and Roosevelt Ave. in Queens.
Deliveries will be prohibited from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in a six-month test program. On 11 crosstown Manhattan streets, the city will restrict deliveries to one side of the street.
The city also will add 110 cops to enforce the delivery rules and 50 to go after drivers who block intersections and crosswalks. They’ll hit violators with $88 tickets.
But the state-run MTA took a swipe at de Blasio’s plan. “The mayor’s plan to ease congestion is to enforce the law, which begs the question: What has been City Hall’s policy for the last four years?” said spokesman John McCarthy. “We’re glad he seems to finally recognize the severe problems caused by congestion and we’d urge him to help address this issue with a comprehensive solution.”
De Blasio’s Republican opponent for mayor, Nicole Malliotakis, also hit the plan, saying it “centers around taking more money from his citizens with fines.”
She blamed the mayor’s Vision Zero push to cut deaths on the road for traffic trouble in the outer boroughs, saying she’d roll back some projects, and she called for smart-traffic-light technology.