4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 11, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
nyc reopens
Twenty miles of new bus lanes, busways
to be added to New York City streets
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e city will open 20 new miles of
bus lanes and busways across the fi ve
boroughs between now and October to
improve commutes for New Yorkers as
the city starts its fi rst phase of reopening
and eases restrictions due to the COVID-
19 pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced Monday.
“Th ese 20 new miles of busways and
bus lanes are going to help over three
quarters of a million New Yorkers get
around more easily,” said de Blasio at his
daily briefi ng at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
on June 8. “Look, more service equals less
crowding, equals more health and safety;
that’s what we want to achieve.”
City transit gurus will open 16.5 miles of
bus lanes and 3.5 miles of busways in the
coming fi ve months, starting this month
with two lanes in Manhattan and the
Bronx and a short new busway in Queens.
Th e fi rst new busway will run along 0.3
miles of Main Street from Sanford Avenue
roll out three blocks of bus lanes east
to Northern Boulevard, and the city will
of the existing 14th Street busway from
NYC now eligible to restart
elective surgeries, ambulatory care
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
As New York City begins
the reopening process,
Governor Andrew
Cuomo announced
that the fi ve boroughs
are now eligible
to resume
elective surgeries
and ambulatory
care.
Previously,
it was
announced
that the state
will allow
elective outpatient
treatments
to resume in counties and hospitals
without signifi cant risk of COVID-19
surge in the near term.
“Today we are turning the page on
the COVID-19 virus as we reopen New
York City — we didn’t just fl atten the
curve, we bent it, and we did it all based
on data and facts,” Governor Cuomo
said. “You look at where we are now
with our testing results and we now
have the lowest levels in the state since
March 16th, and that’s why I have confi
dence saying to New Yorkers that
we are ready to reopen. All this progress
has been made because of our
hard work, and we can’t get sloppy
now or else we’ll see those numbers
start to go back up.”
In New York City, 14 new
temporary testing sites will
open at churches in the
city’s hotspot areas that
have been impacted the
most. Th
e testing sites
will be created
in partnership
with Northwell
Health and
SOMOS
Community
Care as a part
of the state’s
Photo via Flickr/Governor Andrew Cuomo
Governor Andrew Cuomo holds daily briefi ng on the
Coronavirus pandemic.
ongoing eff orts to help these areas of
New York City.
Th ose participating in the recent protests
are encouraged to go get tested for
coronavirus. Out of the 240 total testing
sites, 15 will be prioritized for protest
participants.
More information on where and how
to get tested for COVID-19 is available
at coronavirus.health.ny.gov. Th is story
originally appeared on amny.com.
First Avenue to Avenue C, and 2.7 miles
of lanes in the Bronx on 149th Street,
between Southern Boulevard and River
Avenue.
In the following months, workers will
install busways on Jamaica Avenue in
Queens, Jay Street in Brooklyn, and
two on Fift h Avenue and 181st Street in
Manhattan, each of them between 0.3 to
1.1 miles long.
Th e city will also add further bus
lanes, including 6.4 miles along Merrick
Boulevard in Queens and 6.6 miles on
Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island. On
busways, the city bans through-traffi c on
the street for most of the day, while vehicles
can still make pick-ups, drop-off s
and deliveries, but have to turn off the
street aft er a block or two, similarly to
the bus-only Fulton Mall in Downtown
Brooklyn.
Bus lanes reserve a lane or two for
buses for several, usually during the day
on weekdays, but still allow car traffi c on
other lanes at all times.
Th e announcement follows the successful
pilot of the 14th Street busway in
Manhattan last year and the 20 miles of
new red-painted lanes will make traveling
faster for almost 750,000 daily riders,
according to de Blasio.
Th e Manhattan thoroughfare prioritized
buses October 2019, for a 1.4-mile stretch
between First and Ninth streets, upping
bus speeds by 24 percent and ridership
by 30 percent, according to city offi cials.
Th at pilot project will now be permanent,
the mayor said, adding that, if the
new bus corridors prove to work, they will
become permanent, too. But de Blasio’s
new scheme fell well short of demands
by both the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, whose offi cials demanded the
city add 60 miles of bus lanes, and four
Photo by Todd Maisel
out of the fi ve borough presidents, who
together with transit advocates demanded
City Hall add 40 miles, as bus ridership
has become more popular than the
subway during the pandemic.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s
been clear for the last weeks that mayor
was underprepared for this moment,”
said Joe Cutrufo, spokesperson for
Transportation Alternatives.
Th e newly announced lanes also don’t
match the proposals transit advocates put
out in the last months for busways, and
Cutrufo said that like with de Blasio’s
Open Streets initiative, he was going for
roads that were easiest fi rst.
“Given how this city has approached
reclaiming open streets, they tend to go
with the lowest hanging fruit fi rst, and
that may be the safest way to approach
this politically,” he said.
A full list of the new lanes:
Busways
• Queens: Main Street, Sanford Avenue to
Northern Boulevard, 0.3 miles
• Queens: Jamaica Avenue Sutphin
Boulevard to 168th Street, 0.9 miles
• Manhattan: Fift h Avenue, 57th to 34th
streets, 1.1 miles
• Brooklyn: Jay Street, Fulton and Tillary
streets, 0.6 miles
• Manhattan: 181st Street, Amsterdam
Avenue to Broadway, 0.6 miles
• Bus Lanes
• Manhattan: 14th Street, First Avenue to
Avenue C, 0.8 miles
• Bronx: 149th Street, Southern Boulevard
to River Avenue, 2.7 miles
• Queens: Merrick Boulevard: Hillside
Avenue to Springfi eld Boulevard, 6.4
miles
• Staten Island: Hylan Boulevard, Lincoln
and Nelson avenues, 6.6 miles
/coronavirus.health.ny.gov
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