Herald & Times Squares Become No-Car Areas

[McLaren]

Remember this busy little landmark filled with cabs, buses, & thousands of people?

As of recently, it along with Herald, has now banned all cars from entering it in an effort to become green.

The entire auto industry is moving towards a greener future, but some local governments are taking it upon themselves to ensure a healthy environment. It’s no secret that California is on the leading edge of this crusade but New York has just enacted its own measures.

According to the Associated Press, New York City has officially closed Times and Herald squares to cars. The move is intended to cut down on traffic and vehicle emissions, but will also help the city curtail pedestrian accidents.

Parts of Broadway will be closed from 47th to 42nd streets and 35th to 33rd streets. Road blockades went up on Sunday night and will remain indefinitely.

To celebrate the more pedestrian-friendly Times Square, city officials set out beach chairs and showed a movie on a big screen on Monday. If the project proves to be a success, look for more U.S. cities to adopt the no-cars policy.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/new-york-city-bans-cars-in-times-herald-squares.html

Very interesting act, imo.
See Times Square Webcams in the link below to see how it looks now that there are no more cars.
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

 

[Northstar]

I looked on the cam and saw cars, is it only during certain times or something?

 

[Famine]

What the hell?

I just bought a dSLR and am going to New York in November specifically to take THAT photograph...

 

[McLaren]

I looked on the cam and saw cars, is it only during certain times or something?

Click Cam 5. Half the street is open, half is closed, apparently.

 

[Northstar]

Just wondering, couldn't this possibly be worse for the environment?

I mean normally when a road is closed there is a detour and normally it is much longer than the original route. Which if you have common sense would tell you that it would burn more gas resulting in more greenhouse gasses.

 

[YSSMAN]

Its an interesting idea. I mean, it lets you have a significantly "different" experience in Times Square, and with it becoming this family friendly areas... Why not? I guess every time I see it, I always have seen the traffic backed up. If they've got the traffic situation figured out, its up to Bloomberg.

Although, God save them in the Backstreet Boys show up at MTV.

 

[TofuStoreDrift]

Ummm... if the whole street becomes covered in foot traffic, wouldn't people start tripping on the curbs?

 

[McLaren]

Ummm... if the whole street becomes covered in foot traffic, wouldn't people start tripping on the curbs?

Rumors are they're widening the sidewalks, and keeping 1-2 lanes on both sides.

 

[Pupik]

Just wondering, couldn't this possibly be worse for the environment?

I mean normally when a road is closed there is a detour and normally it is much longer than the original route. Which if you have common sense would tell you that it would burn more gas resulting in more greenhouse gasses.

Exactly. It will increase traffic in areas that aren't prepared for it, causing more human misery, decrease productivity, and potentially disrupt other areas of the economy (can't have a business in an area with too much traffic, if there's nowhere to park).

Also, more HOV lanes are also needed to "reduce" energy consumption.

 

[wfooshee]

It's a city street, not a freeway. Manhattan has very no freeways compared to other cities, so HOV lanes just don't apply.

But closing the busiest street in town and forcing people to find another route is kinda dumb. And one of the reason it's busier is because that's where all the stuff is! So people are supposed to park somewhere and walk in? Or saturate the subways?

I've only been to Manhattan a couple of times, and I was on foot both times, staying in a hotel in Newark and using trains and subways to get around. Pedestrian Times Square would have been cool. But not everyone is on foot.

The cross streets are still open, which is the cars seen on the cameras. So pedestrians are out there thinking they've got it to themselves, but the still have to cross traffic that now has no reason to stop. Cool!