Drivers Up In Arms Over Proposal To Widen Midtown Sidewalks
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There's a new push to widen some of the busiest sidewalks in Midtown Manhattan. The plan wants to add more space for crowds walking to Penn Station along 7th Avenue.
On the flip side, drivers say they don't like the idea of getting squeezed.
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reports, 7th Avenue sidewalks could get ten feet wider in the chaotic, people-packed zones between Times Square and Penn Station -- so jammed on sidewalks that at times people run and walk out in the streets.
The city's proposed fix would be on the avenue's west side. An illustration shows how the plan would take away a lane of traffic, giving an idea of what drivers will be losing and pedestrians will be gaining.
The extra walking space could be added to 7th Avenue between West 42nd Street to 34th Street by the Spring of 2018.
Drivers aren't thrilled about the proposed changes.
"I don't agree with that at all," Lawrence Wagner from Staten Island said.
Lawrence and others predict this could be a disaster for them.
"I think it's going to slow traffic," he said. "I understand if the ratio of pedestrians is a cost to drivers, but I mean we need more places, not less, to drive through."
CBS2 took Wagner's concerns to the Department of Transportation's Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, who said pedestrian safety must come first.
"It will enable them to get around what is one of the most densest parts of midtown Manhattan," she said, adding that she hopes drivers "give it a try."
"We have a smart team of traffic engineers and planners who looked at it, we're gonna look at the signal timing," Trottenberg said.
Julia Kite is with Transportation Alternatives, a group that supports the city's sidewalk planning proposals.
"Currently there's ten times more pedestrians than drivers in that part of Midtown at peak hours and if you look comparatively the amount of space devoted to each group, it's widely unbalanced," she said.
Manhattan Community Board 5's Transportation Committee also gave the proposed sidewalk increases the green light.
