okay I was perplexed: new signs saying the pyramid lane is a new high occupancy lane!! That is the designation in the bike/runners lane also!?!?! I went into the 79th street yard and talked to 2 employees(who were nice and a bit curious too) DOT put up the signs-perhaps not in agreement with current park road designation!
This is for the south bond, west drive in the am.
For anybody out there Monday morning -good luck-I wonder what the rules are going to be?
Monday Nov 29th-new road rules !!??!!
Sun, 11/28/2004 - 1:36pm
Sun, 11/28/2004 - 7:37pm
#1
holy s---
"This is what it was supposed to be (from an earlier thread):
""But the west side of the roadway will be open only to cars carrying two or more people. Iris Weinshall, the transportation commissioner, said the high-occupancy-vehicle restrictions were only temporary, but could be extended if they are successful in reducing traffic.""
I guess they intend to reduce traffic by running over all the cyclists and joggers. (Plus, starting Monday through the end of the year as usual, the park is only closed to traffic on weekends and holidays, not weekdays or evenings.)
Maybe someone riding on Monday will bring a can of spray paint for emergency use if necessary.
"
Mon, 11/29/2004 - 1:31pm
#2
dangerous HOV signs
"OK, I've seen the HOV signs put up over the weekend. They are indeed misleading and just asking for trouble. They all use the (extended diamond) symbol which is common for HOV lanes, but in this case is stupid, because: (1) the symbol is already used for the inner, jogging, cycling lane, and (2) the driving lanes are all supposed to be HOV at that time anyway (7-10am); i.e., there is no separate HOV lane and the driving lanes DON'T have the symbol on them.
So what you have now are inconsistent signs using the synbol saying no motor vehicles in left lane (which lane contains the diamond symbols on the ground) followed by other signs using the symbol saying HOV + 2. Since it starts right at the beginning of Great Hill (""Harlem Hill""), with its blind corner, and many joggers go around clockwise against traffic, it's just something bad waiting to happen. (In my experience, too many drivers, particularly cabbies, cut over the double line into the cycling lane on the curves as it is.)
Considering that a bus driver yesterday ignored all the no commercial vehicles and height limitation signs on the FDR and rammed his bus into an underpass, how can the DOT be so unthinking as to use general HOV signs where they don't belong, thus confusing drivers and inviting more trouble?
I suggest multiple notices to DOT about this to get them to fix it sooner than later."
Mon, 11/29/2004 - 4:34pm
#3
Dear Commissioner Weinshall...
Tue, 11/30/2004 - 5:11am
#4
What's up at the park entrance(s) this morning?
At about 7:30 this morning there was a police car blocking one lane of the West 85th Street access to the West Drive and 2 cops standing at the entrance. I saw them let a few cars through but they stopped an SUV - after a discussion the SUV backed out of the entrance and continued down CPW.
Is this an attempt to cut down traffic in the park or possibly a terrorist related precaution? Anyone have any insight?
Tue, 11/30/2004 - 7:40am
#5
probably just enforcing the new HOV 2 requirement from 7-10 am
Once in, they can then be confused by the conflicting diamond signs.
Wed, 12/01/2004 - 8:30am
#6
Security threat, perhaps?
Maybe the police now views SUV drivers as terrorists.
On Monday afternoon, I saw plenty of people paying no attention whatsoever to the rules regarding vehicle occupancy on the west side drive way, letalone the speed limit.
I would find it much easier to take the Bloomberg administration more seriously about its commitment to reduce or eliminate motor traffic in Central Park if it scrapped the open all day policy between Thanksgiving and New Year. I just don't believe there is enough extra traffic in the city to warrant it. And even if there was, it poses an unnecessary and avoidable threat to all other users of the park.
Wed, 12/01/2004 - 1:07pm
#7
more traffic
"Unfortunately there is a large increase in traffic between Thanksgiving and New Years. People drive in to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, to see the store windows, etc. Most of them never leave their cars, preferring to stay warm, keep the music on, and stay ""safe"". The Port Authority gets a toll and the City gets nothing. I doubt if having the Park open helps at all but if the Mayor did nothing about the traffic he might not get re-elected."
Wed, 12/01/2004 - 4:08pm
#8
No previous mayor opened the park
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that Bloomberg was the first mayor to open the park to motor traffic between Thanksgiving and New Year, although admittedly, I've only lived here since 2000. Maybe he did it to get re-elected. But if that many people come in from outside the city, it shouldn't make any difference, as they wouldn't be voting in the mayoral elections in any case.
Thu, 12/02/2004 - 6:08am
#9
I'm pretty sure he's not the first
I remember the holiday opening during the Giuliani administration, which is as far back as I go in NYC.
hannah
Thu, 12/02/2004 - 2:16pm
#10
The people who drive in on holidays are not necessarily those complaining about the traffic. An increase in traffic means busses and cabs move slowly, and residents get upset and demand that the city do something about it.
Thu, 12/02/2004 - 4:07pm
#11
Correction
According to TA, the car-free hours in the Park have steadily increased over time. In 1994, the City expanded the weekday car-free hours so that the Park was car-free from Jan 1 - the 1st week in Nov. The Bloomberg admin. is enacting the first increase in car-free hours in over 10 years. If he is appeasing any of his constiuents it's us, not them.
Thu, 12/02/2004 - 2:08pm
#12
"""Offical"" email from Bloomberg"
I got this today. Sorry if this info has already been posted here:
Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXXXX:
Thank you for your recent letter regarding vehicular traffic and the Central Park Loop. On November 21, 2004 the New York City Departments of Transportation and Parks & Recreation announced a series of steps that will reduce motor traffic and allow for increased recreational use of Central Park beginning January 3, 2005.
The implementation of these changes started on November 29, 2004 with the closure of five exits and entrances to motorists, the reduction of the speed limit on all Park drives from 30 mph to 25 mph, and the beginning of the HOV 2+ Program along the West Drive. The HOV 2+ Program will encourage carpools, and reduce congestion and vehicle volume by requiring drivers to have at least one passenger in the car between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Other changes, which include reducing the number of hours the Park is open to vehicles, will be in affect after the end of the Central Park holiday traffic plan. Vehicles will be allowed only on the Park's East and West Drives and only between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. The entire Park will be closed to motor traffic overnight, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and will remain closed during the hours between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. As has been the case, the Park drives will be closed to motor vehicles on all weekends and City holidays.
For more information please visit the NYC Department of Transportation's website at www.nyc.gov/dot. Thank you again for writing; we value your participation as we work together to make one of our City's greatest assets more accessible for our many residents and visitors.
Sincerely,
Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor
Please do not respond to this email address. To send a message to the Office of the Mayor, you may use the web form at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html.
Wed, 12/08/2004 - 1:26pm
#13
DOT's solution(?)
"So, while riding in CP today (12/08), they were covering some of the ""diamonds"" in the cycling lane on the west side of the park with black paint -- instead of, say, just covering the ""diamond"" on the HOV signs, which caused the confusion in the first place. To me, the latter would have made much more sense, since there are no HOV lanes with ""diamonds"" on the ground (both driving lanes are supposed to be HOV 2+ from 7-10am), and there are still ""diamonds"" all around the park in the cycling/jogging lane and on many signs saying no motor vehicles in the inside lane.
So much for DOT logic."
Thu, 12/09/2004 - 6:09pm
#14
diamond dust
Oh-it only gets better!! Now, as mentionned above-they have painted the white diamonds with black paint-so now we have BLACK DIAMONDS-but still diamonds-= that a driver will see in a car. And of course they are the only diamonds on the roadway. In addition the Parks Dept painted them with an OIL base paint and they were slick as----- today when fresh; and from experience I KNOW after a rain they will be like black ice- !!!!! DUH
Tue, 12/14/2004 - 12:41pm
#15
paint didn't stick and . . .
"The paint didn't stick to the thick white lane marker material (which is some kind of vinyl epoxy stuff); it's mostly worn off and will probably be all gone in another week. But they covered up the diamonds on the 25 or so ""no motor vehicles in inside lane"" signs all the way around the park, even though the only diamonds are on the pavement in that lane (and diamonds are used in cycle lanes all over city).
So now it's worse than when they started--implication is even stronger for HOV cars to drive in diamond lane. (All they had to do was cover up the diamonds on the 6 HOV signs to take care of it in the first place, but I guess that was too obvious to figure out.) To top it off, they invite cars in all day this time of year, and there were 2 drivers going the wrong way the other day, including one who made a tortured left turn at 72nd street to do it."
