Submitted by alexd231232 t3_yrwt7j in nyc
Manfromporlock t1_ivy2cbt wrote
Reply to comment by intjish_mom in Exclusive: DOT eyes Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza as NYC's next car-free space by alexd231232
One thing we keep finding is that traffic adjusts to the infrastructure for it. So if you have a congested eight-lane highway, adding two lanes doesn't make it flow better, you just get a congested ten-lane highway. The extra traffic kind of just appears.
It works in reverse as well; cars used to be able to drive right through Washington Square Park, and when it was proposed to turn the park back over to people, there was a lot of handwringing about how the extra traffic would spill over into the surrounding streets. But it didn't; the extra traffic kind of just disappeared.
D_Ashido t1_ivyb2zp wrote
I believe I understand your viewpoint. I am still confused how all of that traffic will get downtown now. You have Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Ave which are bringing traffic from two different directions to get downtown and then you're just going to leave them deserted to go through skinny back streets? I can't see Eastern Parkway turning into a dead-end at Brooklyn museum while keeping all those side streets only one way.
I guess I'd have to see a simulation of this to see how it would work.
In addition, for all of these cuts to automobile traffic patterns, we need to seriously fortify our Mass-Transportation infrastructure to make up for it. We can't cut one option to get around without boosting the alternative in some fashion.
breakneckridge t1_ivye9de wrote
D_Ashido t1_ivyjhgr wrote
Thanks for the read. I'm gonna have to side with "Ed Crotch" who commented on this article 15 years ago. They said:
>"So here we have a city that is increasing the volume of people yet trying to reduce the volume of vehicles. The amount of subways that can be run on one line is still years off from being able to be increased.
>Still, I have yet to see any data that says that by reducing the number of lanes will actually reduce the number of over all drivers through out the city. It will reduce the volume of vehicles on those streets (less lanes means less vehicles on those streets), but I think people will just drive elsewhere thus causing gridlock and traffic on streets where there is none now."
KingPictoTheThird t1_ivyzuxf wrote
The subway is just one way of getting around. The city has added tons of SBS lanes, more buses, bike lanes, and made the city safer for biking and walking in general. As we create safe alternatives people will switch to those
D_Ashido t1_ivz370y wrote
SBS and Bus lanes are gonna use the same infrastructure that is being bastardized by this plan so why would I use it more?
Iconospastic t1_iw51xgh wrote
Because what he says "will happen" generally does not happen anywhere tried. Congestion on other streets tends to increase in the very short term, but habits change and volume decreases in the medium to long term.
Case in point: Amsterdam's gridlock literally looked like NYC's until it didn't. They made that change. And the traffic did not magically stay the same forever.
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