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BWW Exclusive: Broadway League Responds to NY Times Cover Story Regarding Wed. Matinees & Traffic

By: Mar. 24, 2010
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As BroadwayWorld previously reported, after a trial run instituted by Mayor Bloomberg last year, Broadway will remain permanently closed to traffic in Times Square. Last year, the city closed off two sections of Broadway to New York City to drivers in Times Square and Herald Squares in an effort to reduce congestion in these pedestrian-heavy intersections, largely due to the presence of the Broadway Theatre houses drawing in hundreds of thousands each day.

Today's Front Page of the New York Times features a story on traffic in the city, entitiled Gridlock May Not Be Constant, but Slow Going Is Here to Stay, which notes "If you are thinking of driving in Manhattan on a Wednesday, perhaps to take in a Broadway matinee, think again: it is the most congested day of the week. " Click here to read the full report in the New York Times.

BroadwayWorld.com reached out to the Broadway League to weigh in on the comment. Says Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League: "While The Broadway League has no empirical data about why the traffic is worse on Wednesdays, we must assume if that's the case, Broadway theatregoers must think it's worth the trip since they've been fighting the traffic to experience the magic of a Broadway show for decades!"

The aim of the new traffic pattern project was to improve flow of traffic along Seventh Avenue and Avenue of the Americas, making the trip down Seventh Avenue, from 59th to 23rd Street, up to 17 percent faster than before. It also looked to reduce pollution and increase safety.

In an effort to eliminate car traffic and make the squares more pedestrian-friendly, table-and-chair "pedestrian plazas" were installed in the middle of the streets where road used to be, and where, on any given day, hundreds of New Yorkers now gather with coffee cups and pizza boxes. The Department of Transportation had been working to gather results data from studying taxis routes using the GPS systems placed in the cabs. Despite mixed results, Bloomberg recently declared that the new pattern will become permanent.




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