A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
WINNERS
NYC Councilman Mark Levine & NY State Senator Adriano Espaillat – Levine and Espaillat are pushing to extend the bus-only lanes throughout the entire 125th Street corridor to speed up travel times.
North Buffalo pedestrians – As part of a series of traffic-calming measures following the death of a toddler, three signal-controlled, high-visibility pedestrian crossings will be built on the Scajaquada Expressway this year.
NYC Councilman Robert Cornegy & Bedford-Stuyvesant transit riders – Countdown clocks are coming to the B25 at Fulton Street and Utica Avenue thanks to funding allocated by Cornegy.
New Haven Mayor Toni Harp and Transportation Director Doug Hausladen – The Elm City launched goNewHavengo, a public initiative encouraging commuters and residents to walk, cycle, carpool or take public transit. In a pilot effort last year with just 47 participants, goNHgo reduced CO2 emissions by 4.56 tons, cut car transportation by 10,276 miles, burned 154,163 extra calories and saved $5,574 in transportation costs.
Park Ridge & Irvington, NJ – The Christie administration announced the inclusion of the two cities into the Transit Village Initiative, which provides funding to local governments to implement transit-oriented development.
LOSERS
Port Authority – Lawyers are lawyering up at the Port Authority, where the agency is paying the legal fees for at least three of its own attorneys regarding ongoing investigations into the Pulaski Skyway.
Long Island Rail Road – LIRR officials admitted to a miscalculation in designs for its new M9 trains that failed to allot enough cubic feet per car for positive train control systems, which could increase costs and delay the scheduled 2018 completion.
Knowledge Corridor commuters – The Connecticut DOT is still seeking a contractor for Hartford Line commuter rail project, and it appears unlikely that service will be up and running by the end of 2016 as was originally planned.
Northern Boulevard pedestrians – Car dealers along Northern Boulevard have been blocking pedestrian right of way by illegally parking vehicles for sale on sidewalks and crosswalks with no retribution from the NYPD.
