A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
WINNERS
U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney (NY) — Rep. Maloney said the potential L train shutdown should be used as an opportunity to improve bus service along 14th Street.
U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler (NY), NY State Senator Brad Hoylman, NY Assemblymember Deborah Glick, NYC Councilmember Corey Johnson and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — These electeds called on NYC DOT to consider a complete street redesign for Seventh Avenue South and to expand the West Village Slow Zone to include P.S. 41.
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection — In a press release regarding this week’s air quality alert, rather than simply advising people to stay inside, DEEP recommended driving less, using transit and avoiding idling vehicles unnecessarily.
LIRR and Metro-North riders — People who ride the nation’s two busiest commuter railroads will be able to use their smartphones to buy tickets as early as the end of August, roughly four months ahead of schedule.
Waze — The traffic navigation app will begin helping drivers bypass left turns that are dangerous for drivers and vulnerable road users alike.
LOSERS
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie — After the Governor and legislative leaders failed to reach a timely compromise to replenish the (now-bankrupt) Transportation Trust fund, Governor Christie issued an executive order halting all non-essential road work.
Amtrak — The East Side Access project is falling further behind schedule largely because Amtrak reportedly will not grant the MTA access to a critical construction site.
NYPD — In the days following a deadly hit-and-run in Williamsburg, the NYPD has been ticketing bicyclists on Grand Street and the Manhattan Bridge.
SEPTA riders — Officials pulled one-third of SEPTA’s train cars out of service after inspectors identified fatigue cracks in the agency’s newest models.
Plenty of things will delay East Side Access; Amtrak is just one. Anytime I hear of a project planned by MTA, especially by LIRR, I assume it will take at least 10 times as long and be 10 times as expensive. Between nepotism, incompetence, graft, and waste… A contractor told me how work was frequently held up by imported ‘inspectors’ who frequently stopped work after realizing that the longer the project took, the longer they would be employed. Whether true or not, one cannot ever expect an LIRR project to be on time and budget, any more than the trains can ever be on time (in real world time). Hey – I took the PJ train to Penn and back for more then 15 years, and in all that time had a single on time arrival at Penn. My train always arrived just late enough to miss the subway train run I needed to get to work on a timely basis. There’s a reason LIRR is known as the Snail Road, Fail Road, …