Construction on Broadway, in a photo from last fall.
A water main project in Lincoln Square and a plan to redesign the “bowtie” intersections around 65th street to make them more pedestrian-friendly have caused congestion and delays in the area. And now it looks like the projects will continue for longer than anticipated because of a leak in a water line, according to the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District. Last we had heard, the water main project, which began more than three years ago, was set to be complete in 2017.
Recently, during Third Water Tunnel construction on Columbus Avenue, specifically along Columbus Avenue from West 62nd to West 64th Streets, New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) workers encountered a leak from an older, existing water line. The DDC is continuing work on the area despite the leak, but the issue’s severity may impact the timetable of construction in the neighborhood, as it will delay some work for the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 65th Street bowtie redesign. Work for the bowtie project is currently halted and will hopefully resume in the spring, however it is unclear whether or not the work will be completed by summer’s end as DOT previously anticipated. As such, Lincoln Square may be in for a longer period of construction work.
Looking for a happier story? Kittens hitched a ride with three DOT workers working on the bowtie last year.
That area is an absolute disaster for commuters in the morning, driving more traffic to WEA. Hopefully that’s not going to be permanent.
The “workers” on this mess have a vested interest in long delays. They have absolutely no reason to be on time… and no repercussions if they’re years late and millions over budget. There needs to be more citizen outrage over incompetent boondoggles like this.
The “improvements” to date have made these multiple crosswalks absolute nightmares for pedestrian and street traffic. Add in the delivery bikes, Bed Bath & Beyond trucks, the lack of appropriate turn signals, and poor light timing in general, and it’s a wonder there haven’t been accidents, injuries and even deaths at these intersections. Not a day goes by without me seeing traffic ignoring red lights, the boxes being blocked, stop lines being ignored by trucks and cars, bike traffic going in the wrong directions and ignoring lights, and on and on and on. Couple this with the ongoing problem of cars – particularly taxis – not believing that they need to wait for lights to change when making left turns off Broadway for the stretch between 65th and 72nd, and you have an area that is a worse danger to public safety than it was before these “improvements” were put into place.
An outrage! Gridlock morning and night, horns blaring, pedestrians crossing wherever and whenever. The DOT “street engineers” flunked the test, their ideas on paper have not translated well to the streets. Lincoln Square now feels like Times Square. Council member Helen Rosenthal holding a Town Hall April 18th with reps from DOT, 145 West 84th St., Brandeis High School, 6-9 p.m. Please attend!