By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
UNION SQUARE — Manhattan’s most famous stretch is getting another makeover.
The city’s proposal to create pedestrian plazas north of Union Square mirroring those in Times and Herald Squares is part of a larger movement to convert Broadway for the car-less class, representatives from the Department of Transportation said Monday.
The DOT unveiled its plan to reduce traffic lanes on Broadway between Union Square and Madison Square Park before Community Board 5’s Transportation Committee, piggybacking on the perceived success of similar initiatives along the Great White Way in Midtown.
The project seeks to fashion a more pedestrian-friendly experience for Union Square denizens by reducing traffic to one lane westbound on E. 17th Street on the park’s north end, as well as eliminating through traffic on Broadway between E. 17th and E. 18th streets.
New street furniture and a bike lane would replace three lanes of existing two-way traffic on E. 17th Street, “restoring the natural flow of the [traffic] grid,” said DOT’s Ryan Russo.
Beyond that, the project will discourage drivers from using Broadway as a major thoroughfare — forcing southbound travelers on the stretch to turn right at E. 18th Street instead of proceeding through to Union Square.
But that detail of the project didn’t sit well with residents of E. 18th Street between Broadway and Park Avenue South, who fear that redirecting traffic to their block will only create more snarls on the small side street.
“I’m wondering if the current plan will simply add to the chaos" on E. 18th Street, said Jack Taylor, an area resident for 52 years.
Russo countered the changes would eventually deter drivers from seeing Broadway as a major throughway, and that many would also turn left before E. 18th Street using designated left-turn lanes on E. 20th, 22nd and 23rd streets.
“Those [vehicles] would disperse on very different routes depending on their destination,” Russo said, explaining that Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue South would naturally become the major north-south routes, the same way Seventh Avenue did with the conversion in Times Square.
The project also includes closing down Union Square West to vehicular traffic between 14th and 15th streets, a point lamented by building owners on that side of the park.
“To be candid, it’s a NIMBY issue,” said Bill Abramson, who represents the owners of 1 Union Square West. “We feel it’s significantly going to have a negative impact on businesses in the area.”
Most of Union Square West will be closed to through traffic, but the DOT stated it was considering retractable barricades that would allow in certain vehicles making deliveries.
Although the committee decided to hold off on voting on the proposal until next month, members mostly voiced support for the project.
“The problem here is a big problem,” committee member Kate McDonough said of the tangle of pedestrians and vehicle traffic at the northwest corner of Union Square. “I think it needs a big and aggressive solution.”
