Judge nixes car-free proposal
The city’s plan to limit traffic along Manhattan’s 14th St. to buses, big trucks and delivery vehicles ran into a major roadblock Friday after a judge issued a temporary restraining order nixing the proposal.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Eileen Rakower ruled the Department of Transportation did not provide enough evidence to show that the new street design — which would have prohibited private traffic in both directions between Third and Ninth Aves. — did not warrant an environmental review.
The city, in its bid to speed up bus service in the borough, had proposed an 18-month pilot program, which had broad support from transit advocates.
But residents complained the restrictions would generate spillover traffic on side streets, and were approved with little or no community input.
The restrictions were scheduled to be put in place on Monday.
Transportation Department Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said she was “disappointed” by the ruling.
City officials have said the plan would increase bus speeds by 30% for some 27,000 daily riders.
The lawsuit challenging the plan said blocking private through-traffic from 14th St. will cause “horrific traffic jams” that “will bring with it air pollution and noise pollution.”
But transit advocates said a small group of residents is slowing progress for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
“When people look at our streets and wonder why we can’t fix them, this is why,” Nick Sifuentes, executive director of Tri-State Transportation Campaign, said in a statement.
“At every turn, smart decisions by experts that will help hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers get derailed by handfuls of know-nothing NIMBYs with deep pockets and time on their hands. This is what holds New York back: selfstyled ‘progressives’ whose belief in fairness stops on their block.”
The “busway” plan was announced in April as a way to alleviate crowding on the L train during construction.
The DOT in a statement said that as a result of the ruling, its plan to start restricting buses and trucks on 14th St. is on hold.
“[This] disappointing ruling will affect tens of thousands of M14 bus riders each day. We understand from MTA that M14 Select Bus Service will be moving forward this Monday, but the ruling means that for the first time ever, SBS will operate without the trademarked dedicated lanes that have dramatically increased bus speeds and reliability on SBS routes around the city,” DOT said in a statement.
“We are confident in both our traffic analysis, and that the court will recognize that we followed all correct procedures—allowing this critically important safety and mobility project to proceed.”