Alternate side parking rules will be suspended on Wed., July 4.
Mitt-lock coming to New York City Thurs., June 28! The presumed Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, will be in town for a fundraiser at The Pierre hotel, in Midtown East, in the early evening. So avoid Fifth Avenue at 61st Street that day. I’ll be tweeting more details of Romney’s travels through Manhattan at www.twitter.com/GridlockSam.
Heads up, 4th of July travelers: A mid-week July 4th this year means a less dramatic exodus than usual. However, June 28 and 29 mark huge getaway days for travelers, while others will wait until Tues., July 3, to get out of town. By 1 p.m. Friday, every major road and crossing to the beach (the Long Island Expressway, the Garden State Parkway and the Rockaway crossings), the airports (the Van Wyck Expressway, the Grand Central Parkway and the NJ Turnpike) and the Catskills (the Tappan Zee Bridge) will be packed. Advice? Avoid the Holland Tunnel at all costs. Leave for your trip super early or late in the day on Thursday. Also, allow yourself an additional hour to catch your flight, and take the AirTrain to JFK or Newark Liberty International Airports.
Wed., July 4 will be a sleepy traffic day throughout the city. If you’re sticking around town to view the Macy’s fireworks display along the Hudson River that evening, be aware of street closures starting at 4 p.m. Wednesday up until 3 a.m. Thursday — on both Tenth Avenue and the West Side Highway — between 14th and 96th Streets in both directions. (The closures could stretch to 125th or 158th Streets, depending on the size of the crowd.) Expect significant delays at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge, with the fireworks expected to begin at 9:20 p.m.
