Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

As part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's proposed  Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign , the route bordering the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project, the eastbound B65, would be re-routed to Atlantic Avenue to avoid Dean Street west of Washington Avenue. That would thus separate it from a bike route, potential traffic jams caused by double-parking, fire department trucks, and vehicles--especially during a heavy event night--lined up for the 535 Carlton parking garage, which in 2023 will expand from 303 spaces to 758 spaces, all via the same narrow entrance. So too would the westbound B65 be re-routed from Bergen Street west of Washington Avenue. In both cases, as shown in the image below, that would add additional traffic to Washington Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Bergen Street. The MTA explains that the change would mean "using a wider street as compared to Dean St/Bergen St and providing a direct connection to the Atlantic Av-Barclays Center subway and LIRR st...

In some cases, the new politics seems a bit too much like the old politics, and some tangents connect to Atlantic Yards. Locally, the Kennedy coronation First, the ascension of Caroline Kennedy as the front-runner for the soon-to-be-free Senate seat in New York has already drawn the endorsement of Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, support from Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and will involve the influential consultants Knickerbocker SKD, who work for Bloomberg, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and--of course--Forest City Ratner. Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice laid it out , and NoLandGrab linked to a couple of pieces I've written about Knickerbocker SKD's propaganda for FCR and candidate Tracy Boyland. In the Times, Judith Warner deftly disagreed with those plumping for Kennedy. National transportation policy On the national scene, President-elect Barack Obama's appointment of Ray LaHood as transportation secretary has provoked dismay from sustainable transport and smart growth advocates,...

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)--with a dedicated express lane, staggered stoplights, and perhaps new loading platforms--on Flatbush Avenue might be crucial to the success of the Atlantic Yards project, as I've written. Now a possible Flatbush Avenue route is pushed even further into the future, because of delays in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's BRT experiment, known as Special Bus Service. (Right: the city's Flatbush Avenue BRT concept plan--no longer available, except via the Internet Archive -- which envisions new dedicated bus lanes north of Grand Army Plaza.) BRT delays In a New York Times article Friday headlined An Experimental Bus Route Gets Passengers’ Praise Buses on an experimental route in the Bronx are moving significantly faster thanks to a series of innovations meant to cut travel time, including having riders pay before they board, transit officials said on Thursday. But the officials conceded that there would be nothing fast about getting the planned...

The failure of congestion pricing threw a bit of a wrench in the city's plans for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), suggested as one solution to congestion on Flatbush Avenue, but now apparently several years away. Though Flatbush is an obvious candidate for such service--which would have a dedicated express lane, fewer stops, offsite payment and "honor system" entrance (subject to random check ), staggered stoplights, and back boarding, according to the city's pilot in the Bronx--another obvious candidate, Nostrand Avenue, was selected in 2006 for one-per-borough pilot project. It looks to be about four years away, however. (Here's the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's site on the service, though the map for a proposed Flatbush Avenue route, at right, is no longer available.) The PlaNYC 2030 Progress Report issued last week explains the fate of BRT, now dubbed Special Bus Service (SBS): The first SBS corridor, on Fordham Road in the Bronx, is set to begin s...