By Sam Schwartz
Dear Transit Sam,
How the heck is the traffic going to work once Trump’s monstrosity opens on Varick and Spring Sts.? We have enough traffic in our neck of the woods as it is.
Alex Z, Hudson Square
Dear Alex,
Not very well! The “monstrosity” will be a 46-story hotel with a front entrance on Varick St. Hotels are entitled to “Hotel Loading Zones,” so you can expect cars and taxis to stop in the east curb lane. The adjacent lane will be used for maneuvering into the Hotel Loading Zone and will likely also be occupied by some double parkers. This leaves just one lane for through traffic since the three westerly lanes are dedicated to the Holland Tunnel. By the way, the hotel is scheduled to open sometime in the spring of this year, so it’s dependent upon my readers to keep me informed of impending traffic impacts.
Transit Sam
Dear Transit Sam,
Is the Second Ave. subway coming down Lafayette St.? The reason I ask is because I always see a lot of construction by Houston and Lafayette Sts., and it looks like subway work. Can you shine some light on this?
AW, Noho
Dear AW,
You’re right. It is subway work, but not for the Second Ave. subway. About 70 years ago, the Downtown IRT Lexington local (now called the 6 train), Bleecker St, station was connected to the BMT/IND Broadway-Lafayette station. It was an instant success. Finally, the M.T.A. is getting around to connecting the Uptown 6 Bleecker St. Station to the Broadway-Lafayette Station, which should be complete sometime in 2011.
Transit Sam
Dear Transit Sam,
What’s the correct way to pull into an intersection to make a left turn when the car approaching you is also trying to make a left turn? I was taught years ago (when there was a lot less traffic) to pull into the intersection and prepare to turn behind the other car. But that’s not common practice. Now cars pull up face-to-face and cut in front of one another. What’s the current legal way on a two-way street?
Billy, Chinatown
Dear Billy,
At a standard intersection, you should turn in front of the oncoming car. Otherwise you end up sniffing the tailpipe of opposing left-turning cars and soon the two lines of left turning vehicles block each other and the intersection. However, where there are wide medians or unusual street geometry, it may be better to turn after the oncoming left-turning traffic. Usually common sense dictates but sometimes there just isn’t enough room to go around.
Transit Sam
Sam Schwartz, a former first deputy commissioner of city transportation, is president and C.E.O. of Sam Schwartz Engineering, a traffic engineering consulting firm to private and public entities including the Port Authority at the World Trade Center site. Email your questions to TransitSam@DowntownExpress.com
