A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in tri-state transportation news.
Winners
NYSDOT — The New York State Department of Transportation won’t widen Route 25 in Smithtown because the plan is “no longer compatible with the… traffic-calming measures” that were implemented on the road last year. NYSDOT also finally approved a pedestrian crossing island on Brooklyn’s Ocean Parkway and will soon commence a study of 38 intersections along the deadly corridor.
New Haven resident Erin Gustafson and Alderman Doug Hausladen — Gustafson and Hausladen worked with the City to create a raised intersection to help calm traffic at a dangerous New Haven crossroads. The project will be financed by the City and Yale University.
Jack Nata and Jim Saunders — Nata, Newark’s traffic and signals manager, and Saunders, who represents a traffic camera manufacturer, penned a column that separates the facts from the fallacies about red light cameras.
University of Dayton — The University is launching a program that will provide free bikes to 100 students who pledge not to bring a car to campus during their first two years.
Losers
NYC cab driver Mohammed Himon — Himon’s aggressive driving caused a tourist to lose a leg, yet somehow he considers himself to be the victim.
NJSEA — A judge “scolded” the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority for its assertion that the American Dream Meadowlands mega-project won’t have an “adverse effect” on football game day traffic.
Long Island Rail Road, copper wire thieves and commuters — Forty-three Long Island Rail Road trains were delayed on Friday morning because thieves stole 144 feet of copper wire from a rail connection between the Woodside and Sunnyside stations.
The red light opinion piece is good, but TSTC should get on the ball and start replying to the less-than-smart feedback that people are giving.
People are commenting that the cameras are just for money, yada yada yada.
Write back, and correct them, please.
Depending on the jurisdiction, money may be the primary motive. If the jurisdiction buys and operates the cameras, the traffic lights monitored have the appropriate yellow timing based on allowable speeds and the fines are appropriate and not a major cash cow after all costs of running the cameras and prosecuting the offenses are tallied, then we can believe they are for safety. At least in the past, in many jurisdictions the camera companies installed the cameras and got a commission on the fines with the jurisdictions also getting large net revenues. At this point I am skeptical about both sides of the debate. Red light running is a serious problem but the red light camera setups can also become scams.
[…] 2015, the governor signed into law a bill that merged the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. This merger weakened an otherwise strong program that promoted “economic prosperity and […]