Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Traffic

Chamber of Commerce: Empty Asphalt = Good Transportation Performance

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 25, 2011 | No Comments

The Chamber of Commerce released its annual Transportation Performance Index (TPI) last week [PDF], and you can tell it’s due for a total overhaul, because according to the Index, recession-battered 2009 was a banner year for transportation performance. Using 2009 data, the Chamber, a powerful lobbying group that represents millions of American businesses, determined that […]

“Midtown in Motion” to Come With Rad Driver-Distracting Apps

By Brad Aaron | Jul 21, 2011 | 16 Comments

As it is, the NYC DOT “Midtown in Motion” initiative is a bit of a head-scratcher. To learn that the city is devoting well over a million dollars in addition to staff resources to speed up car traffic in Midtown, which the mayor has declared the “lifeblood” of the CBD — is it 2006 again? […]

High-Tech Midtown Traffic System Will Ignore Pedestrians and Buses

By Noah Kazis | Jul 20, 2011 | 11 Comments

The Department of Transportation is rolling out a response to Midtown traffic congestion that is as high-tech as it is intellectually outdated. Microwave sensors, video cameras, and E-ZPass readers will gather traffic information in real-time and beam the information to the DOT’s Queens command center, where engineers will instantly adjust the traffic lights as needed […]

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Has America Passed Peak Car Use, or Is It Just a Cyclical Decline?

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 8, 2011 | No Comments

Fast Company is the latest media outlet to trumpet the decline of driving, with a look at the phenomenon dubbed “peak car use.” In an article titled “We Are Approaching Peak Car Use,” the magazine examines an Australian study [PDF] which found driving rates are falling in a number of cities in Europe, North America […]

DOT’s Annual Scorecard Confirms: Most New Yorkers Don’t Shop and Drive

By Noah Kazis | May 2, 2011 | 7 Comments

NYCDOT’s annual scorecard, the Sustainable Streets Index, adds more information about how New Yorkers get around every year. In addition to regular statistical snapshots of the city’s transportation system, like transit ridership or traffic speeds culled from GPS devices in taxis, this year’s version adds neighborhood travel profiles. Compiled from interviews in eight neighborhoods, these […]

Pedestrians, Including Bill Clinton, Breathe Easier in the New Times Square

By Brad Aaron | Apr 13, 2011 | 4 Comments

A new study commissioned by the city finds that air quality in Times Square has notably improved since the 2009 installation of pedestrian plazas on Broadway. Street-level readings taken by the New York City Community Air Survey, a city-wide air quality monitoring program created as part of PlaNYC, show that “concentrations of traffic-related pollutants were […]

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