GRIDLOCK SAM
ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING RULES ARE IN EFFECT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
SUMMONS ALERT DAY (SAD) FRIDAY!
More tickets are written, and more cars are towed on Black Friday than any other day of the year. You can be sure ticket writers have been charging their handheld summons issuing devices to be ready for the extra load. Why is this day different from all other days you ask? It looks like a holiday, feels like a holiday, many private-sector workers are off, but not city employees. All, I repeat all, parking rules are in effect. Nothing ruins the holiday spirit like seeing your car loaded with gifts hooked up to a tow truck. Obey all parking rules.
While it won’t look like a typical year at malls and other shopping destinations, watch for traffic around commercial hubs today. In Manhattan, 5 th Ave. in the 4 0 s and 5 0 s will see more activity as people try to catch a glimpse of this year’s holiday windows and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Bus riders note: the 5th and 6th Avenue buses will skip stops at 4 9 th and 5 0 th Streets through January 3rd.
One way to predict this Sunday’s traffic as hordes return from Thanksgiving is to see what Wednesday afternoon looked like. Well, I can tell you it wasn’t a pretty picture. The Cross-Bronx/GWB finished first in the tortoise race followed closely by the BQE/Gowanus from 65th to the LIE. The LIE “showed” from the BQE to Roslyn. Honorable mention goes to the Staten Island Expressway, the Lincoln Tunnel, Henry Hudson and FDR. The Holland Tunnel was the best Hudson River crossing to Manhattan and the Belt did better than expected, with JFK traffic cut in half. I expect a repeat Sunday afternoon from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
It’s not all gloom and doom on the roads; there is some good news. The long-awaited ramp connecting the Manhattan-bound RFK Bridge to the northbound Harlem River Drive (and thus the GW Bridge) is now open; no more detouring onto the streets of East Harlem. So, if you’re on the RFK heading to the GW Bridge, take the Manhattan exit (rather than head to the Bronx) to the northbound Harlem River Drive, which almost always moves faster than the Deegan.
Expect to see more E-bikes and E-scooters on our streets moving forward; they became legal to operate in New York City (except on the Hudson River Greenway) this week. They will be limited to speeds of 25 and 20 mph, respectively.