The SI Advance has decried "the lack of steady enforcement" of the SI Expressway's previously bus-only lanes.
Even as NYSDOT shows signs of reform on Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley, the state agency’s recent work on Staten Island reflects a business-as-usual orientation.
Last month NYSDOT opened up the Brooklyn-bound Staten Island Expressway bus lane to cars with two or more occupants. The “pilot program” appears to violate federal environmental laws — no environmental impact statement was performed for what is, for all intents and purposes, a major highway expansion. It comes after a cursory study of last year’s opening of the New Jersey-bound bus lane found little impact on bus travel times (though this study is not publicly available on NYSDOT’s website).
The conversion aims to appease some politicians and drivers who’ve pressured NYSDOT to open the bus lanes to cars since the lanes were opened. But even the commenters in the Staten Island Advance recognize that it will do little to alleviate congestion in the general purpose lanes, and will completely obliterate any time savings currently enjoyed by Staten Island’s bus riders.
And even as New York City DOT is using the federal stimulus package to shore up its bike and pedestrian program, the biggest chunk of New York State DOT’s stimulus funds slated for the city is going to a $40 million project to add auxiliary lanes and move ramps around along the Staten Island Expressway.
Staten Island is, of course, NYC’s most car-oriented borough. But that’s no excuse for NYSDOT’s Region 11 office (which handles New York City) to take a pass on innovation. This is especially true given the long-standing feeling among Staten Island residents and elected officials that the borough needs more transit options. This sentiment gets expressed in editorials, at community board meetings, during presentations for the current North Shore and West Shore rail studies, and in many other places. NYSDOT should be tapping into this sentiment, not slowing transit riders down.
Image: Staten Island Advance file photo. Quote from editorial, March 15.
[...] Last month, the state DOT opened the dedicated bus lane on the Staten Island Expressway to cars with two or more passengers. Tri-State’s Michelle Ernst has more: [...]
Perhaps check out what happened on the El Monte busway, as an example of what could happen to the busway in Staten Island. Loosening auto restrictions on busways can lead to increased congestion with a reduced capacity of the lane to move people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Monte_Busway
[...] DOT had its lapses — witness the changes underway on the Staten Island Expressway, where $40 million in stimulus cash will be spent on auxiliary lanes and ramp adjustments, and a [...]
[...] the NJ-bound lane was opened to cars with two or more occupants. In March, the Brooklyn-bound lane followed suit. Both are supposed to be pilot programs, but the NJ-bound lane has now been open for over a year. [...]
[...] to redesign the interchange. The DEIS does not address the impact of NYSDOT’s “pilot program” that allows cars with two passengers in the Staten Island Expressway bus lane during peak [...]
[...] the NYSDOT capital program; the lane will be extended only to Richmond Ave. The agency has already opened the bus lane to cars with at least two occupants during peak periods, and hasn’t publicly documented how the change is [...]