Broadway Traffic Experiment in Times Square Yields Questionable Results

New Yorkers and tourists alike are well aware of the recent pedestrian and vehicular traffic pattern changes Mayor Bloomberg instituted last year. Considered one of the most drastic civic experiments in decades, the city closed off two sections of Broadway to New York City 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 night. The aim of the 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. 

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.

A report out in the New York Times today reveals that The Department of Transportaion has finished gathering results data, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has yet to announce whether the experiment will become permanent, based on their findings. Two officials briefed on the data characterized the results as disappointing, and one said that the project failed to meet the department's goals. 

Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, would not comment on the success of the the traffic flow experiment, saying only in an e-mail that: "An analysis of the project is under way and we will make the report public upon its completion." 

To read the full report in the New York Times, click here.

Still, the project has some fans.  Writes the Times: "Local business groups have surveyed their customers about the project, and reviews have mostly been positive. The Times Square Alliance, the local business improvement group, queried New Yorkers who work in offices near Times Square; most said they were happy with the improvements, noting that the square had become more hospitable as a lunch destination."