yuppying up the bway junction?




Broadway Junction subway stop could become a 'destination' transit hub

City officials are pushing for the area around the station to be revitalized

BY AMY PLITT@PLITTER NOV 27, 2017, 9:15AM EST


https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cGod...tside_vc.0.jpg


Big changes may be coming to the area around Broadway Junction, where myriad transit lines converge—and where, according to a New York Times report, a “dingy warren of passageways” is “anything but welcoming.”

The city is hoping to change that, though not necessarily by focusing on improvements to the three discrete subway stops that make up the Broadway Junction transit hub.

Instead, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, in collaboration with city officials like Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and City Council member Rafael Espinal (who pushed the city to include street-level improvements at Broadway Junction in the larger East New York rezoning plan), is attempting to “identify potential avenues of economic growth in and around the transit hub.” That growth, in theory, will come from commercial development—retail, office space, and the like.

There’s already one anchor tenant coming to the area; NYC’s Human Resources Administration has committed to moving to East New York, one of the Brooklyn neighborhoods that borders the transit hub. Over the summer, the NYCEDC issued a request for proposals for HRA’s HQ, which could occupy “one or multiple new developments, taking up to 300,000 square feet of office space.”

That’s part of a larger effort by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration to spur job creation and economic growth, called New York Works; whatever development HRA moves into will have space for other businesses, with those promising to employ East New York and other local residents given a priority. In the EDC’s announcement of the RFP, Adams called it a “golden opportunity” to jumpstart change in the area near Broadway Junction.



more:
https://ny.curbed.com/2017/11/27/167...yc-development

They need to do something about the crippling traffic. Its getting to the point where "NYC Gridlock Alert" is being shown on those electronic billboards daily.

Something needs to be done to alleviate the traffic on the BQE.

I-278 (BQE/SI Express) is slow moving from the minute you pass the Goethals all the way up to where it interests with Queens-Midtown Express aka I-495. A giant parking lot. If it moved at 10 mph I'd be happy, but it doesn't.

I wonder if freeing up the HOV lane would help the flow? Just suspending it in general.

Getting rid of those barricades and increasing the speed limit through the cash-less tolls would help. Seems like folks slow down to a crawl and cause a jam even though you can just drive through it.

Lastly, the city needs to relook at the timing of traffic lights in busy intersections or neighborhoods.

Today it took me almost 40 minutes to go through Flatbush to Grand Army Plaza via the Manhattan Bridge. The lights are too short on major avenues. Not to mention the nightmare on the BQE. Add that with the double parked trucks, and aggressive kamikaze MTA buses, and its a shit-show.

Broadway Junction
 

Does everyone here remember that "vision" for Broadway Junction from several years ago that showed this wild looking tower straddling the elevated structures and other buildings that looked like the work of DS+R or Morphosis or something? I've looked all over the interwebs and can't find a single image.

If someone on here has it could you post it?

regional plan association proposals include one big controversial one:


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.3666521

I believe you're thinking of the vision for Woodside, not Broadway junction.

http://amlgm.com/#/urbanalloytowers/

^Damn, you're right. That was a while back but I would have sworn I remembered it being about B-J. No wonder my google image search went nowhere...

^ whoa the alloy towers are mind blowing!

but there will also be a lot of affordable housing development right around bway junction regardless if diblasio gets going on it -- the first bldg is on the way.

i have work sites around bway junction in bville and eny for decades and it could certainly use more life, so i hope something good comes out of developing the property around it and under it. i dk if it could support much now, but maybe as the housing comes along they could build up the junction along with it. i suppose they could at least come up with a plan for for now.

i gotta visit the new generation subway train models at the hudson yards 7 train station! :tup:



https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/...280/image.jpeg



New subway cars, known as R211s, on view at Hudson Yards station in Manhattan

By Vincent Barone vin.barone@amny.com November 30, 2017



The subway car of the future has arrived — sort of.

Riders can catch a glimpse of the next generation of subway cars at the 34th Street-Hudson Yards station in Manhattan, where the MTA has unveiled two sections of the model they expect to hit the rails for testing in 2020.

Riders can tour the two models through Dec. 6, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Surveyors from the agency will be stationed alongside the models to collect feedback — feedback the MTA says will influence the final design.



more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-new...car-1.15261184

boo hiss!

but i thought this was always called triboro rx and it was minus a tunnel to staten?

https://ny.curbed.com/2016/6/1/11830...ation-proposal

not sure where that changed?



Why the Triboro X rail may never leave the station

The proposed Triboro X route starting from Co-Op City in the Bronx connecting with Queens and terminating in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, will traverse dozens of neighborhoods, impacting several hundred thousand people living nearby.

By Larry Penner
Published : December 04, 2017 | Updated : December 04, 2017



In 2012, Manhattan Borough president and future 2013 Democratic Party primary NYC Comptroller candidate Scott Stringer called for the construction of a new Triboro X subway line. This would connect Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx.

It made a great sound bite at the time and got Stringer some free publicity. But you have to ask five years later, just what has he done to follow up?

As always, the devil is in the details. Stringer said that this would be his number one transportation priority if elected NYC comptroller. I have seen no evidence that Stringer, since January 2014 as NYC comptroller, continued to advocate the new Triboro X line as his number one transportation priority since assuming office when speaking to voters around town or as part of municipal budget negotiations.

In 2016, the Regional Planning Association updated release of an old proposal for construction of the Triboro X Bronx-Queens-Brooklyn new rail service. Just how did the RPA come up with a potential cost of $1 to $2 billion? My experiences of over 31 years in the transportation field tell me it could easily cost several billion more.

Any proposed extension of the route from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Staten Island would require construction of a tunnel and additional station at the St. George Staten Island Ferry Terminal. This could also provide a connection to the Staten Island Rapid Transit station and system. This additional work alone could easily cost $5 billion.

There are no dollars programmed to support any work for advancement of this project contained with the MTA's $32 billion 2015 - 2019 Five Year Capital Plan.

Ditto for the MTA 2014 - 2034 Twenty-Year Capital Needs Assessment Plan.

The same is true for NYC's July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018 municipal budget.


more:
https://www.metro.us/news/local-news...ail-mta-penner

There's two ways to help traffic get moving and both should be done in all cities:
1. Raise parking prices. Do like SF, have a semi-dynamic pricing system so that there's pretty much always one open spot per block. Lack of parking won't stop people taking their car, but having to pay for that parking will.
2. Congestion Charge. It works. And extra funds generated can be funneled into improving transit (those making this a huge win for most people).

Also, I'd suggest installing protected bike lanes all over the place. On pretty much every street. It increases capacity by quite a bit.

1.) nyc only fairly recently got new ticketed parking meter machines for the block to replace the old style coin machines, so semi-dynamic pricing would have to wait for the next higher tech update. great idea, but given the investment that will be awhile. 2.) this administration is against congestion pricing. 3.) good news, dedicated bike lanes are coming along steadily, in fact, impressively.

Train Derailment: 12/8/17 (NJ Transit Line)

CSX train; Raritan Line is shut down. This happened in Union,NJ.

• Video Link

Anybody notice the European sirens on ambulances lately when walking in the city?

They are that two-tone stuff, like in Europe. Some of the ambulances I've noticed have those now.

I think they've always had them. An emergency digital siren, whether a cop car or ambulance can be manipulated by the user to sound like all sorts of things. Maybe its just some operator(s) that like the sound?

third track expansion for lirr between floral park and hicksville:

https://www.amny.com/transit/lirr-3r...ect-1.15415954

digital train control tech for the 7 train gets pushed back again -- :shrug:



7 train upgrades are delayed, again

By Vincent Barone vin.barone@amny.com December 11, 2017



Bringing the 7 line into the 21st century will have to wait a few more months.

The MTA project to upgrade the Flushing Line with a modern signal system has been delayed — again — due to persistent software and hardware issues. On Monday, officials at the agency pushed back the launch of the digital train control technology, known as communications-based train control or CBTC, from the end of this year to the spring of 2018.

The $588 million project has already experienced three years of delays and cost overruns, and this latest setback comes at a time when the agency has faced criticism for failing to quickly update its century-old signal system.


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/7-train...ain-1.15419603

modern subway platform barrier moving forward --


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.3692396

^Interesting. I'm in no way a fan of platform screens, doors, gates or whatever you want to call them. BUT, I am somewhat encouraged that the prototype they are planning a trial for is stated to be 4.5 feet. That leads me to believe they don't intend on these full height style platform "walls" which would kill the subway station aesthetic and train "experience" in my opinion. 4.5 feet tall done in clear laminated glass kept as minimal as possible could have an overall neutral aesthetic impact while allowing the station to have a spacial continuity and avoiding the compartmentalizing (read: claustrophobia) of the station space.

^ totally agree -- although i can see the full wall possibly being needed at a few stations somewhere in the future. its a good test run for safety barriers that they can build in the one station during the L train shutdown and try it out.

speaking of the L train shutdown ---



L train shutdown mitigation plan released by MTA, DOT

By Vincent Barone vin.barone@amny.com December 14, 2017


A busway and bikeway across Manhattan streets will be part of a larger plan to mitigate the disruption caused by the looming L train shutdown.

The highly-anticipated plan, unveiled Wednesday, will also include increased subway service along lines near the L train; the establishment of high-occupancy vehicle restrictions over the Williamsburg Bridge; a new bus network and a strategy to improve subway access that includes reopening several closed station entrances in Brooklyn.

Both the city’s Department of Transportation and MTA aim for the new measures to adequately absorb the 225,000 daily commuters who travel between Manhattan and Brooklyn through the L train’s Canarsie tunnel.



more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/l-train...lan-1.15441990

the critics are out for L train shutdown plans:


https://www.amny.com/transit/l-train...own-1.15417998