Michelle Effron snapped these pictures at the intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and 72nd street on Tuesday. She said three separate double-decker buses blew tires in the intersection, which is being repaved.
She said all three buses were towed away from the scene. At least the tourists had some fun stories to tell. Okay, maybe not so fun.
At least they could get a snack at Gray’s Papaya!
Do we think their tires are so bald to have that happen?
I call that dangerous.
I was standing on the corner when this happened and as you can see in the photos pedestrians continued to cross the street. People in cars were getting annoyed at the delay and speeding through the space between the bus and the curb and just missed hitting 2 women. There was red fluid (transmission?) pouring out near the back tires and everyone immediately thought that someone was under the bus, which the drivers seemed to think was hilarious. It was at least 20 minutes before they took control of the situation.
For the life of me I can’t understand this repaving process. Both the tearing up of the streets and the laying of asphalt are done with the logistical precision of the Army Corps of Engineers, but the need for many days and even weeks between the two processes is befuddling. There doesn’t seem to be any reason why they can’t have the roads repaved the day after they are torn up, instead of leaving them waiting to eat up cars, buses and pedestrians as if we were living in Beirut. I’d love to know the City’s reason for the lag between the two processes.
Perhaps it’s cheaper or logistically simpler to do all the demolition and then do all the repaving rather than jumping back and forth between the two tasks.
I’ve been to Beruit and I can tell you they have much nicer streets than NYC!
And when push comes to shove, they really need to revisit some streets they’ve “finished.” For example, the west side of 66th Street/CPW has a manhole cover in the middle of the street still exposed far enough that traffic has to avoid it. Also, along some streets the grading of the asphalt allows huge puddles to form along the curbs and pedestrians are sprayed much more heavily than before when it rains.
+1 Mike. Completely ridiculous why the roads are left in such horrible condition for so long. Not only is it bad for vehicles and bikes, but it is dusty and hard to navigate by folks with even minimal physical limitations.
They really did a number this summer. I can’t remember such a broad area that has been torn up for so long!
Hey, you all want drivers to slow down all the time….. Maybe the roads should be left like this for good!
Those broken-down rust-bucket buses probably couldn’t pass inspection and shouldn’t even be hauling tourists on city roads in the first place. They all emit poisonous, noxious fumes, clog our streets and should be restricted to midtown Manhattan and special sites in the first place. They don’t belong cruising and polluting residential neighborhoods.
I don’t see this as a problem. If the tour buses consistently break down on the Upper West Side, perhaps they’ll find another neighborhood to annoy.
It has been a big pain, as I have to ride my bike out of the way to CPW. But once it is done, it will be fantastic to ride down… The process is called milling. They tear the street a bit to allow the asphalt to attach properly. They use different machines, so the milling and paving schedules are set separately based on other projects in then city.
I don’t know how far down it goes because I came crosstown on 72nd this afternoon but the new steet on 72nd and B’way is done!
Good. Maybe the buses will go somewhere else.