Congestion pricing is reducing gridlock, improving air quality and mobility, and funding public transit investments. A proposed Times Square casino would increase vehicle traffic, emissions, and pedestrian conflicts in an already crowded area. The project's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) predicts worsened crosswalk performance and congested intersections, including four intersections dropping to Level of Service E or worse on weekends. Planned valet operations, drop-offs, and new zones for private cars, limos, rideshares, and buses will generate traffic rather than support transit. People-only areas and low-traffic zones are preferable to adding traffic-generating uses.
New York City is in the midst of an early and innovative experiment that is heralding a transformative shift in how we move through our streets. Congestion pricing is finally here and the early reviews are in: it's already reducing gridlock, improving air quality and mobility, and helping to fund the next generation of needed investments in the public transit system that millions of us rely on every day.
The SL Green/Caesars Palace Times Square project isn't just a bad land use decision; it's a dangerous one. It invites more cars, more emissions, more pedestrian conflicts, and more chaos into a neighborhood already bursting at the seams. The developers are promising glamor and jobs. But their own Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) makes clear what this really is: a traffic-generating machine that will degrade quality of life and make our streets less safe.
Times Square is one of the busiest pedestrian zones in the world. More than 200,000 people walk through it daily. According to the EIS, eight crosswalks in the project area are already operating below acceptable levels, and the casino will make them worse. The city should be pursuing people-only areas and low traffic zones to deal with the already severely over-crowded sidewalksnot green-lighting even more traffic and congestion.
Collection
[
|
...
]