Times Square shuts down traffic, maybe forever
After living in New York City for awhile, I formed an opinion on all the major attractions that everyone wants to see when they visit Manhattan. If you asked me about Times Square, I’d tell you this…. “I’m not a fan.”
When you live in a big city, everything around you is fast-paced, including foot traffic. I found that most New Yorkers walk slightly faster than everyone else in the U.S., as they know exactly where they are going and they want to get there ASAP. I’ve adapted to that walking style and I even move at that pace when I travel. Sure, I’ll stop to snap a photo or to marvel at something I’ve never seen before, but I can’t stand taking baby steps at 1mph… like most tourists end up doing.
So many travelers frequent Times Square every day at any given time that New York City has bowed down and yielded to their lack of attention. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve seen someone dart across the street, dodging cars, simply because he/she wasn’t paying attention to traffic signals. And when one person flees, a whole flock of people runs across the street, completely ignoring the WALK/DON’T WALK signals.
What is Manhattan’s solution? Take away some of the vehicles, of course! A new pedestrian mall standing on Broadway spans from 42nd to 47th. Motorists are still allowed to cross Broadway, but they will be re-routed to a wider 7th Avenue to continue going North or South. The city is also going to set up a promenade between 33rd and 35th near Herald Square, where the Tony Awards will be broadcasted this year. Come December, New York will make the decision whethere or not this plan should be made permanent.
Any NYC drivers out there upset about this? This idea can only prevent pedestrian accidents. Safety first, I suppose! Here is my plea to all tourists out there–Pay attention to where you are walking. Don’t make any city feel responsible for your inability to be careful when crossing the street. That’s something mom and dad should have taught you YEARS ago!
- Posted in Travel News, U.S. East on May 26th, 2009
May 26th, 2009 at 12:42 am
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May 27th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I think it’s a great idea. Pedestrian areas will allow visitors to linger a little bit longer if they want and of course make it easier to get around on foot.
I know it’s not ideal for drivers, but come on - could congestion get any worse!?
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:54 am
Although I’ve never been to NYC, there’s only one word that comes to mind when I think of Times Square: clusterfuck. A place with a shit-ton of cars, and even more pedestrians, which from my understanding are generally tourists and suburbanites, not locals. You put a bunch of people who almost never walk anywhere on crowded sidewalks, put in every distraction known to mankind, and disaster inevitably ensues. Looking both ways when crossing the street isn’t going be a natural reflex for you if you’ve never lived in a neighborhood that has sidewalks. I’ve seen such stupidity from U of I freshmen from the suburbs nearly every fall semester, and I can only imagine that TS is that on lethal doses of steroids.
That’s why I applaud this plan to divert traffic out of Times Square. If nothing else, the name Times “Square” won’t be a complete misnomer. If you can find me a town square, plaza, piazza, etc, somewhere in Europe with one-quarter the vehicle traffic Times Square has, then I’ll give you a copy of a physics test that Ryan got an ‘A’ on.
New York is one of the few places in the U.S. that I’m willing to dignify by calling it a “city.” And as dense and transit friendly as it is (well, as long as you’re not a gimp like me), steps should be taken there to focus on people first, cars second. They know how to do this in Europe, where city planning is actually taken seriously. If they weren’t so clueless on accessibility issues (and disgustingly politically correct, but that’s a whole ‘nother story) on that side of the pond, I’d probably be on the next flight across the Atlantic from here in a heartbeat.
Now if only Bloomberg could only do something about all those damn lights. It’s like a MySpace page come to life.