August 2019

In a last-minute appeal, a judge on Friday hit the brakes on the city’s plan to ban private car traffic from a stretch of 14th Street, NY1 reports.

A judge granted the appeal, which was filed in the state appellate court division, and halted the pilot program for the second time in two months. The decision forces the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to suspend its plans and likely move to appeal the sudden about face.

The ruling comes just three days after a judge lifted a temporary restraining order on the program and as DOT crews prepared to launch the 18-month pilot program between Third and Ninth avenues on Monday. The stalled pilot aims to block private car through traffic from the busy road to speed up bus commutes during work on the L train’s Canarsie Tunnel. Pick-ups, drop-offs, and garage access would still be permitted under the plan.

The busway was set to launch Monday at 6 a.m. It was originally planned for July 1.

A state Supreme Court judge has lifted a temporary order blocking the city from rolling out its bedeviled 14th Street busway pilot. Justice Eileen Rakoff ruled that the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) complied with state law that mandates the agency study the impact of banning private cars on the surrounding residential streets.

After reviewing documents from the city and the coalition of Manhattan residents petitioning the busway, Rankoff lifted the temporary restraining order that blocked the pilot’s July launch on Tuesday. DOT spokesperson Alana Morales says the agency is beginning work “immediately” and will launch the busway on Monday, August 12.

Transit advocates who have long called for the pilot program, which was originally timed to launch with work on the L train’s Canarsie Tunnel, praised the ruling as a “huge victory.”

“When riders organize, the whole city wins,” says Danny Pearlstein with the Riders Alliance. “The 14th Street busway will provide faster and more reliable bus trips, saving precious time for tens of thousands of people who badly need it.”

Others charge that the ruling sets a key precedent for other streets where residents seek to use the courts to “circumvent the democratic process in order to preserve the car-dominant status quo”— such as Central Park West where members of an Upper West Side condo board are suing to block a bike lane, says Marco Conner, the deputy director of Transportation Alternatives.

The curved dome atop 44 Union Square, the former headquarters of Tammany Hall, is structurally completed and the geometric glass panels that enclose the lattice frame are beginning to be installed. The renovation is designed by BKSK Architects and developed by Edifice Real Estate Partners. CNY Group is in charge of construction on the historic, 90-year-old landmarked structure, which is being expanded to 70,348 square feet. Two new floors will be housed beneath the dome and receive abundant natural daylight.