Commercial vehicles are not supposed to travel on West End Avenue. But they do anyway, because the drivers are either confused or figure they can get to their destination faster.
This could become a bigger problem as the travel lanes are reduced on West End to two from four.
Now, the West End Avenue Preservation Society has come up with some proposals to keep trucks and buses out of the area. One idea is to to close off southbound access to the avenue at 107th street, where Broadway and West End intersect, according to a plan set to be discussed at a community board meeting on Tuesday. The list of proposals is below.
Correction: we initially had the wrong date for the meeting about these proposals.
It’s too bad they, the board doesn’t sit and watch how the traffic moves. That would stop all the cabs & legal traffic from going south on West End from 107 south and push traffic to Broadway. It will do nothing to stop the buses & trucks from coming over from Broadway I have live on West End for year and watched the progression of trucks & bus traffic. Plus on the weekends WEA is full of buses sitting idling their engines waiting.
Completely agree. Buses and trucks rarely travel down that 107th st intersection. They come from the south, heading uptown, or cross over from Broadway.
That’s a good start, but I hate to burst their bubble, as there is just as much northbound commercial traffic down here in the 60’s and 70’s barreling uptown like they’re on a freeway. And I’m talking about 18-wheelers with supermarket logos, auto vehicle trailers, and other over-sized commercial vehicles that obviously have no business here. It will be interesting to see if anything changes when the 25mph law takes effect, since no one ever observes the 30mph city speed limit.
What’s the big seal? It’s already against the law for commercial vehicles to travel more than three blocks on streets they are banned. So just enforce the existing law! All it takes is one cop car pulling trucks over all day for a week and the problem will go away a word gets out.
That would require common sense. Not much of that available.
I live right off West End Ave (on 83rd St) and have never noticed much of any commercial traffic. Is this really a problem?
I do like that little triangular park up there though.
Over the past 10 years, there has been a marked increase in commercial traffic on the West Side in general. This is a function of increased residential development (luxury) which generates service vehicles, movers etc, not to mention cars of residents; the big rise of delivery (Amazon, Fresh Direct etc); and increase in big stores such as Trader Joe’s.
Come on…rather than enforce the existing law the solution is to close off this access route? the PD needs to enforce the existing law that BANS commercial traffic. I have lived on WEA for a long time. The commercial traffic situation has gotten out of control. (And what if this proposal goe thru? Trucks will still head north on WEA…and take cross town streets to get on the avenue. )
I agree. Why can’t police enforce the law? Crackdown on illegal commercial vehicles, motorized bikes that a lot of delivery guys use and bikes that blow through red lights. c’mon NYPD do your job! Yesterday I saw a very “senior” couple holding hands walking gingerly across the busy intersection by Lincoln Center. Just as they stepped off the curb a motorized bike whizzed by totally oblivious of the couple and threw them of balance!!!
79 Street, SW corner of Amsterdam, NYPD has a stationed PO in a marked NYPD vehicle observing that vehicles don’t make an illegal left against their light.
80 Street, RSD, NYPD has a stationed PO in a marked NYPD vehicle to catch drivers making an illegal turn northbound onto RSD (as they exit the West Side Highway).
Can’t for the life of me figure out why they couldn’t do the same at this intersection at 107 street. Either CB 7 is dropping the ball or the 2-4. Regardless, having a presence deters drivers from disobeying the laws.
How about not restricting the lanes and have a couple of policeman at the intersection for about a week
Also why restrict passengers from getting off the crosstown bus at 86th and WEA when the bus goes there anyway
If these proposals are the work of the West Side Preservation Society then we should abandon hope of preserving the West Side.
No one has mentioned the chartered buses and tour buses that go up and down West End. Is this legal (even if they are empty) ?
The recent increase in commercial traffic might be the result of the recent narrowing of Broadway north of 96th street as well as the reduced lanes on West End Ave north of 96th street. Gigantic traffic jam every single morning, entirely chocking West End Ave and Broadway as far north as 107th street have resulted. This situation has only gotten worse with the end of summer and the beginning on the new school year. Pollution from stalled cars as well as an increase in beeping noises is a sad by-product of the city’s new traffic initiatives. As welcome as some of these new changes have been, I don’t feel as they have been really thought out before they were in-acted. This is perhaps why more commercial traffic has become to use / try West End Ave, not necessarily because it’s a straight path south. I feel that a solution lies even further north — maybe diverting commercial traffic at 110th to Columbus Ave? — but at this point, I’m not sure it’s because commercial vehicles find it “effortless.” West End Ave preservation is not just for those living in the 80’s. Above 96th street, going southbound has become a mess.
I do agree however, that the block between 107th and 106th street could be put to better use. Because of it’s adjacency to Straus Park, this block would be a terrific spot for a (bi)weekly farmers market. In the short term this would begin the process of diverting traffic and signaling that this is not a thru passage for southbound traffic. This would take place on only certain morning hours and would also be a better (wider) spot for a farmers market than the current sidewalk near Columbia University. Perhaps the folks at Greenmarket could be approached about this? Additionally, by not closing the street entirely (only during certain hours) it would preserve much needed parking spots that otherwise would be eliminated and maintain access for emergency vehicles. Are we to eliminated more free parking in favor of parking only for those who can afford it?
As far as the M60 bus, I propose that we lobby the MTA to move the last stop closer to 96th street where a connection to the number 1,2 and 3 subway lines would make the line more convenient and useful to the riding public at large. (Especially riders to La Guardia Airport) As it is, beginning a bus line to an airport at 106th street and Broadway makes little sense.
this is a slight change in topic… but the “planters” or islands are now IN at 95th and West End — and they are making a difference.
North-south traffic has been slowed quite a bit. Pedestrians have a chance to stop in the middle of West End if the light changes. And no more “quick left turns” into the southbound lane of West End… like the one that killed Jean Chambers.
Maybe the traffic gurus at Dept of Transportation knew what they were doing after all. 🙂
Yes, I agree — the intersection is better now. The mere presence of the islands seems to deter cars from swerving onto West End like a bat out of hell. That was a good move.
we shoud ban trucks, vans, cars, bikes and even walking. Than all of us can crawl around safely while sniffing eachothers butt. The West Side has a huge concentration of airheads. They make laws to solve one problem while creating 4 new ones.