All I can say is...drive carefully! Below is the response from Greg at DOT. Note the part where he says "if you have any other questions, comments or observations..."
Hi Tim,
Thanks for writing. The signs for
the small section of Lincoln Road from Washington Avenue to Flatbush
Avenue to become one-way westbound will be put up tomorrow or Wednesday
at the latest. There will be “DO NOT ENTER” signs facing eastbound
Lincoln Road traffic at the far side of Flatbush Avenue, “ONE WAY” signs
pointing west on the east side of Flatbush Avenue at Lincoln Road, and
signs with left and right arrows and the “ONLY” message for traffic on
eastbound Lincoln Road approaching Flatbush Avenue to tell drivers they
must turn left or right, they cannot go through.
We
understand your concern. We try to get the signs and the markings up at
exactly the same time, but sometimes there is a time lag.
Please advise if you have any other questions, comments or observations.
Thanks.
Greg
33 comments:
Hey Tim, thanks for the update. My only other comment is that they need to do something to make the new "island" a hard barrier. Cars drive right through it.
I agree completely. I have to believe that Mr. Haas did not plan to put at least plastic bollards encircling that hoped-for island. That's what restrains drivers in most newly off-limits roadway in Prospect Heights, Boerum Hill and Gowanus. Here,, an actual new island makes sense.
Can someone with his address ask him this question?
An actual island with PLANTS would be amazing!
PLG Field report... Monday, 4pm: Flatbush, Bedford, Empire, Washington all a bumper to bumper mess. Other than snowstorms, never seen it this bad this early. A little over a half hour to get from the zoo entrance to Midwood St.
So far, this redesign is a complete failure. Should delight the anti-auto faction.
I can assure you the anti-auto faction has no interest in cars choking the lanes and lungs. They (including DOT) want you moving...WE just don't want to be killed.
Wish drivers weren't so defensive. Or, perhaps wish they were a little more so?
So far:
Old Rules 0
New Rules 0
Looking forward to New Rules putting a few up on the scoreboard. Also, without an accident or other emergency, I'm highly suspicious of the half-hour time-frame from zoo to Midwood.
Field report 5:14 accident on southbound Flatbush between midwood and beekman. Appears to be caused by car sideswiping from driving in northbound lane into oncoming traffic. Both guys screaming at each other while dollar vans just go around them not caring that they are headed directly into oncoming traffic. Traffic on Flatbush backed up all the way past zoo and all the way beyond midwood as far as the eye can see. The only cops I saw were getting sandwiches in wholesome market. Yes seems just the anti car faction will be pleased though now your air pollution will be worse with All the idling! Yay DOT and seriously mr Q, please stop supporting this ridiculous redesign until you start driving a car and can actually see how bad it is!
I was very, very hopeful for this change. But driving home from the airport at 6pm on Saturday we sat in traffic for 10-15 min from the zoo until Maple (at which point we bailed). So I'm sadly not incredulous at diak's 30min at the start of rush hour.
Something had to change from what we had before, no doubt, but I'm not so sure anymore that this is the solution. Not giving up yet, just wondering what Plan C might be...
Was just out there. Two major problems, all driver caused, led to the trouble. First, drivers are supposed to merge BEFORE they get to Empire. Instead, people were using the right turn lane to go straight, leading to three lanes merging to one in front of Phat Alberts. Two, drivers were blocking the box like crazy. Traffic was not moving AT ALL at Lefferts, Lincoln and Parkside. Not because of the lanes, but because selfish pigs were upset at the slowness of their commutes and chose to just sit in the intersection as retaliation.
Those were the problems I saw. And Diak is probbly right...it could have cost a half-hour. My apologies for being a doubting Thomas.
Drivers need to smarten up, or they can count on similar problems til traffic cops come out. Which may happen, if drivers don't figure it out for themselves. Interesting that that's how DOT works...I'm curious to see which comes first.
I haven't seen the catastrophe caused by the lastest changes firsthand, but I am willing to bet that a large part of the problem is double parking in the traffic lane. DOT's new plan works great in theory, except for the fact that your typical dollar van driver has no problem stopping in middle of the road to pick up or drop off passengers, even if that means making cars behind him wait.
Had the day off today and walked from Hawthorne up to Lincoln along the Flat. It was single file barely moving at around noon. Have not owned a car for 12 years and should probably give a rats ass, but it seemed a bit ridiculous.
Hope DOT are tracking the changes and willing to revert/modify as needed. Today was the first day for testing this change and it was a complete disaster. It's amazing how this change caused traffic congestion all around the park.
It took me over an hour to get from GranD Army plaza to Rutland. It was at least 45 mins from Empire. This was between 530 and 630 I can't believe a police officer was not there to help. Buses were blocking traffic. Dollar vans were doing dangerous things. It was the worst traffic I have ever seen. NO ONE was paying attention to lights. It is a nightmare
Yes, drivers need to smarten up. ALSO, more cops need to be out there for enforcement.
I was driving home at 1pm today, and Flatbush Southbound was ridiculous. My husband walked to the Duane Reade at 4p, and he said that most of the Dollar vans were just blowing through the yellow lines.
Where are the traffic cops? Seriously, this is outrageous. More non-policed lawlessness in Flatbush....so disappointing.
There is no way the cops are going to ticket these double Parker's, dollar vans and general illegal driving activity. For years I have seen unbelievable behavior from the drivers in PLG running red lights nearly running down peds on the sidewalk point blank in front of cops who just don't do anything!!. For some reason cops refuse to ticket anyone on the PLG stretch of Flatbush, it's like the drivers have immunity here.
DOT needed to act to make things safer around here and the sacrifice is free flowing death wish lanes but hey I'd rather traffic jams than humans being made into jam!
I wish people would calm down. Give it a few days. You'd think this was the first traffic jam in NYC history.
Someone on the listserve was complaining that traffic on Flatbush has become like the Hamptons. Say it isn't so! And who are these people who drive a few blocks at rush hour to do errands or pick up kids? No wonder it's always been so crowded on the roads around here. I thought it was people who actually had to drive for some reason. Now I know.
OH BOO HOO!! I feel very little sympathy unless you are disabled. If you have two feet and two legs, I suggest you use them people and get used to the new normal.
Hey who knows, you may actually get to see your neighbors and chat to them on your walk to work, school, or the grocery store. Just a suggestion.
Two things - I suspect that pretty soon traffic will spill over to Bedford and Ocean which will help the situation on Flatbush. The other is that I'm really unimpressed with the 71st yet again. The idea that they want to allow drivers a few days to get used to changes before enforcing is pretty preposterous and reflects very badly on whomever is the brains behind the operation. What happened to prioritizing safety? Isn't that what they are supposed to do? It also sounds like the 70th has been enforcing, making the 71st's inaction all the more frustrating.
Traffic was gridlocked yesterday on Bedford, Flatbush, Ocean, Empire, and Parkside from, oh, 3:30 to about 7:30 pm. I was compelled to drive across Brooklyn yesterday afternoon; Rutland to Coney Island Avenue took about 45 minutes, no exaggeration. Lots of double parking, as always, no police handing out tickets in evidence, no one even directing traffic. Later, on foot, I watched car after car turning onto Washington from Lincoln. Signage will help; bollards will help more. I suppose a few more deaths will make a difference too.
To those like OH BOO HOO above who think this isn't their problem and drivers are getting what they deserve, well, better hope you don't need an ambulance or a fire truck. (I would have included police in that as well, except they seem to have completely disappeared throughout this "transition.")
It also does not bode well if we are faced with a terrorism or Sandy-like situation requiring evacuation; it's easy to see how quickly any sense of order breaks down. To those who are wondering why all the fuss about "just a traffic jam," I'd say I've been in lots of NYC traffic jams and this has a very different feel to it... a frightening, every-man-for-himself aura.
I think Mr CF is correct when he says many of the problems are being created by drivers themselves. A mixture of frustration and selfishness is causing some—perhaps just a few, but that's all it takes—to go through red lights, block intersections, drive wherever they can gain even a car-length advantage, etc. I tried to show a little courtesy in the chaos yesterday and was subject to honking and screaming anger. And when I wouldn't block an intersection on Bedford the car behind me simply squeezed through the bike lane, went around me and did it anyway...
I don't know what the answer is, but this redesign certainly isn't it. At least, so far. In the meantime, it seems clear from the comments here that there is a real desire for the NYPD to show up and enforce the laws. Are you listening, 71st?
Just a request...please keep the comments respectful. The best way to do that, in my view, is to keep it to your opinion alone and not name-call other commenters. You can still state your opinion, even forcefully, without creating a hostile environment.
I will delete comments that don't meet the basic criteria of civility.
- the management
I'm sorry Diak, your opinion is spot on. I hope that I do not need to call an ambulance. Thank you for your concern.
I'm also sorry for being a proponent of mass transport. I'll go back into my corner and sit quietly as Mr. Q has reprimanded me harshly for expressing my feelings. Take care and I hope you have a pleasant day.
The northbound traffic this morning (and other mornings) seemed to be flowing just fine. The difference might be that there's no parking on the northbound side during rush hour. As you mentioned, they decided not to removing the southbound parking during rush hour because the businesses are open...but maybe that would be the lesser of two evils.
Yeah it seems the 71st is the worst precinct in Brooklyn, well certainly when it comes to beat/patrol cops It's kinda unbelievable in a city such as NYC that all this illegal driving activity happens right in front of the police and they just pretend nothing happened! I drove a bit in the West Indies and would regularly see stuff like a car hit a guy on a moped right in front of traffic police and the policeman would just swing his baton at the moped guy ( who would be picking himself up of the ground !) telling him dust himself off and carry on!! Not as bad here in PLG but not for off.
As someone who is on Flatbush Ave everyday, drives to Park Slope nearly everyday and walks from Ocean Ave to Flatbush via Parkside Ave everyday here are my observations.
1) There has been a noticeable increase of large trucks/semi traffic on Parkside Ave. They have been trying to turn onto Flatbush Ave, which is a tight turn, which in turn holds up traffic.
2) Traffic at the intersection of Parkside Ave & Ocean Ave has always been horrible and incredibly dangerous to cross the street. NOW it's 1000x worse due to congestion on Flatbush & drivers giving no regard to the rules of the road or pedestrian rights.
3) Traffic is crawling down Flatbush at all times of the day since the traffic changes have been made.
The changes on Flatbush have negatively effected all tributaries on this side of Prospect Park. There NEEDS to be traffic cops at the intersections directing traffic. It's not safe for ANYONE out there right now.
The police have been cracking down on the dollar vans. This week I've seen many of them getting pulled over and ticketed. BUT aggressive drivers should be getting ticketed in the same regard, they are not. This smells of the same thing the police did over the summer, actively target those riding bikes, ticking them for riding on sidewalks, etc, and turning a blind eye to cars running red lights, making illegal turns and blocking the intersection.
This afternoon I actually saw two NYPD officers in the area! Really. They were on horseback over by the Concert Grove... I guess they've figured out how to move about safely and efficiently in this neighborhood.
It's really horrible walking on Flatbush now , a trillion immobile vehicles honking their horns for 5 minutes flat and yelling at each other and I'm thinking someone's going to shoot someone. By the time I got to prospect park train station my ears were bleeding, I moved out from Manhattan to avoid this s*** !
The traffic pattern changes have been a disaster. It took me 57 minutes to get from Grand Army Plaza to Flatbush and Midwood yesterday. 51 the day before.
As the father of kids who need to cross the streets, I am generally for traffic calming where possible. However, these changes need to be re-assessed.
Midwood1, the plan is not a disaster. The 71st failing to show up is the disaster. They have not had a single officer present to improve traffic flow on Flatbush, Bedford, Nostrand, Parkside or Ocean during rush hour. If this isn't an example of their complacency when the going gets rough, I don't know what is.
The plan is fine…the lack of traffic enforcement is a total joke!
I figured this was the plan when I saw the work on the extension begin. However, motorists are not able to delineate the NEW do not enter signs from the preexisting signs that were already on Lincoln road. I recently filed a complaint with the DOT and there was not response. I recommend they put a "New" sign underneath the Do Not Enter signs so that drivers actually recognize there is a new traffic pattern.
What about those temporary flashing light boxes? I think they should park one on Lincoln Rd next to the pharmacy. It could say something like "NEW No left turn at Washingon Ave" - that's the problem, not confusion about Do Not Enter signs on the other side of Lincoln Rd. And follow it up with ticketing for offenders.
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