Traffic snarls on First Avenue, brake lights on Second Avenue, and an impromptu parking lot on the FDR Drive were the most visible signs of a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, and they will remain so today.

President Bush’s motorcade added to the delays as the president made his way to a $4 million fund-raiser, and today he will speak to the General Assembly.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry spoke at New York University yesterday.

Today he remains in town for an appearance on “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

Roads around the United Nations building have been closed for the week, and the FDR Drive will be closed at regular intervals until the session is over.

Eight bus lines – the M27/M50, M42, M15, M101, M102, M103, and M104 – will make detours to get around the closed roads.

“Better to take the subways,” advised a spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Transportation.

Mayor Bloomberg, speaking to reporters this morning, said the traffic was a minor trade-off for the financial benefit of having the United Nations in New York City.

“I don’t know if world peace is any closer because of the traffic, but I do know our economy is better,” the mayor said from Queens.

“The traffic we bear at the opening of the United Nations is a small price to pay for the job creation that the diplomatic community brings here throughout the year,” he said.

Metro North trains were thrown off schedule by an accident at Bedford Hills on the Harlem Line, but trains were unaffected by the proximity of Grand Central Terminal to the U.N. building.

The system brings 75,000 people to the city every weekday morning, and it can absorb another 7,500 riders without causing overcrowding. If more people took the trains yesterday morning, the organization doesn’t know it.