A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
WINNERS
New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — Speaker Mark-Viverito urged Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to include protected bike lanes in the Grand Concourse redesign.
New York City Councilmember Julissa Ferreras-Copeland — Councilmember Ferreras-Copeland called on the NYC Department of Transportation to move forward with a redesign of Corona’s 111th Street that would add safer crosswalks and a protected cycletrack.
New York City Councilmember Paul Vallone — Thanks to requests from Councilmember Vallone, the NYC Department of Transportation will install improved pedestrian crossings, curb extensions and ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps along Third Avenue near Francis Lewis Park in Whitestone.
Thx @PaulVallone, Queens residents, & @NYCParks for helping to make these #VisionZero pedestrian improvements possible at #FrancisLewisPark pic.twitter.com/PQdxKUeNTv
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT) October 4, 2016
Metropolitan Transportation Authority — Governor Cuomo announced that toll plazas at all MTA operated bridges and tunnels will be replaced with all-electronic open road tolling, something TSTC has been calling for since 2004.
Summit, NJ –Summit teamed up with Uber to subsidize rides to and from its NJ Transit rail station to avoid building a $10 million parking lot.
LOSERS
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto — Despite the three lawmakers coming to an agreement on replenishing the Transportation Trust Fund last week, it seems like neither the Senate nor the Assembly wanted to vote on it.
Carl Person — A Manhattan judge threw out a lawsuit filed by Person claiming that bike lanes and pedestrian walkways caused drivers injury by worsening vehicular traffic.
Stamford, CT — Josh Benson, the head of the city’s transportation bureau, will return to the NYC Department of Transportation after just one year on the job.
Hackensack, NJ pedestrians — Three of the most dangerous intersections for people walking in Bergen County are in Hackensack, according to a report by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority.
LAZ Parking — A LAZ-operated parking lot is blocking a Lower East Side school’s request to make Peck Slip a play street during school hours.
Queensboro Bridge pedestrians and bicyclists — Construction work will close the Queensboro Bridge’s biking and walking path every night between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. through the end of the year.
The Summit Uber plan is much more of a mixed bag than a win. While it will avoid creating another parking lot and it will reduce the number of vehicular cold starts, it will add to the number of “empty” trips (Uber operators traveling to or from the station with no passengers to pick up another fare) and it will most likely increase congestion and vehicle emissions. (Existing congestion caused by rail/bus commuters looking for parking could have been avoided by assigning permits to specific lots.)