Transit Authority
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Q: What is the difference, if any, between highways designated as parkways and ones called expressways? Is it just an arbitrary choice of names, or is there something more to it?
A: There is a historical distinction between parkways and expressways that generally has to do with when a road was built and who planned its construction. The latter term simply denotes that there is some type of barrier between traffic in lanes headed in opposite directions on the highway. The term parkway signifies that the highway’s planners tried to create a motif for the road and attempted to fit it into its natural surroundings. Parkways usually have signs unique to the specific roadway and fitting a special theme, and medians that feature manicured plant life, to create a park effect – though many planners have found that exceedingly difficult to achieve because nature normally is not easily observed at 50 or 60 mph.
One other distinction: Commercial vehicles are not allowed on any parkway in the city, according to a spokesman for the city Department of Transportation, Craig Chin.
The New York metropolitan area was one of the first to install a parkway, when the Bronx River Parkway was built in 1907. The now-defunct Vanderbilt Parkway, later called the Long Island Motor Parkway or LIMP, was constructed the following year but was replaced by the Northern State Parkway in 1934 and was closed in 1938.
I often see stickers on the windows of cars that say something about the vehicles violating city traffic laws. Which agencies place those stickers on vehicles, and for which violations are they affixed?
Those stickers, referred to as “notification stickers” in city code, are placed on vehicles by any one of four agencies: the Department of Transportation, the Fire Department, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or the Department of Sanitation. The Department of Transportation places stickers on vehicles that violate laws by blocking the flow of traffic. The Fire Department places stickers on vehicles parked at fire hydrants. Sanitation places stickers on vehicles that are parked or standing in a way that interferes with scheduled street cleanings. The MTA places stickers on vehicles that block a bus stop or lane.
