New Yorkers Rail Against ‘Idiotic’ New Plan To Put a ‘Park’ in the Middle of Park Avenue

An almost $40 million plan to plant trees and build bike lanes in the middle of Park Avenue — by erasing three lanes of traffic — is being roundly panned by commentators who foresee a homeless encampment amid “manufactured congestion” through Midtown Manhattan.The redesign, which applies to 11 blocks of Park Avenue, will eliminate two lanes of southbound traffic, reducing drivers heading downtown to a single-file procession between East 46th Street, just north of Grand Central, and East 57th Street. “Literally a short walk from the biggest park in the city but whatever. Gotta manufacture that congestion so we can hike up those tolls!” an X user commented on the New York City Department of Transportation’s post displaying renderings of the plans.Park Avenue is just two avenues east of Central Park, with the planned redesigned ending close to the portion of 59th Street known as Central Park South. The city’s plan to “put the ‘park’ back in Park Avenue” will restore the roadway to the number of lanes it carried in the 1920s, at the dawn of automotive travel.“We’re turning Park Ave into 1 Lane, which will turn into 0 lanes when a truck or cab stops for a pickup/delivery?” wrote user Dylan Yen, “so pedestrians can get run over by speeding e-bikes running reds and everyone else will be stuck in traffic.”Others highlighted how unnecessary the project was. The roadway already boasts landscaped medians, complete with sculptures exhibitions supported by the Fund for Park Avenue.“Why waste Tax Dollars on this??” read one comment.Many commentators expressed concerns about loitering and the city’s ongoing problems with homelessness.“Thank you DOT for creating a space for homeless vagrants who will take over Park Ave,” wrote one. Another predicted “a MASSIVE homeless issue with people sleeping on the benches and loitering 24/7.”The NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, which advocates for tighter regulation of e-bikes and other micromobility devices, called the design “horrifying” and “ridiculous” predicting “e-bikes flying by pedestrians, trash everywhere, e bikes parked in numbers, less flowers.” “Its all about forcing more congestion and prioritizing e-bikes, deliveries and $$ Citibike. Gross,” the alliance wrote. One of the three traffic lanes sacrificed in the redesign would go toward creating protected bike lines in both directions next to the expanded median.Vice president of the East 86th Street Association, Andrew Fine, took issue with City Hall’s claim that the redesign “responds to feedback from New Yorkers,” harkening back to opposition to the plan raised this spring and noting that keeping the major traffic thoroughfare as-is was never considered.“So typical of the current DOT. It’s not should we do this or, nah. It’s pick one of two bad ideas, and we already chose the bike lane design, but let’s pretend we are listening to the public,” he wrote in April. “And, oh yeah, we have a limitless pool of money somehow.”The street-level redesign will run in conjunction with repairs to roof of the MetroNorth train barn below, which is expected to cost more than $1 billion.One commenter posted video of an inundated subway station dated from earlier this month “This was the NYC subway a few weeks ago, but yes go plant trees. When did the Department of Transportation become Parks & Recreation?” they wrote.“And to think you guys used to actually move traffic,” wrote the manager of historical photo repository Forgotten New York, Kevin Walsh.

New Yorkers Rail Against ‘Idiotic’ New Plan To Put a ‘Park’ in the Middle of Park Avenue

New Yorkers Rail Against ‘Idiotic’ New Plan To Put a ‘Park’ in the Middle of Park Avenue

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