Broadway Theaters Harder To Get To?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 11:36am

It seems Mayor Bloomberg is trying to make a pedestrian mall out of Broadway between 42nd Street and 47th Street.

While something needs to be done to ease the pedestrian traffic in this area, I don't see this as the answer. To me it will be harder to get to Broadway theaters for two reasons:

1. Taxis will have to use 8th Avenue and come into the Theater District from the West.

2. You know that street vendors are going to set up their tables all over the place. (Have you ever tried to walk near Macy's and had to cut into the street because everyone was crowded around the knock-offs tables?)
Link

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 11:57am

I can only think of two theaters off the top of my head that have their entrance on Broadway- the Palace and the Broadway.

How will it be harder to get to any of the other theaters? Most taxis avoid Broadway like the plague, anyway.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:11pm

"How will it be harder to get to any of the other theaters?"

I hope I'm understanding this correctly.

43, 44, 45 and 46 Streets between Broadway and Eighth Avenue will have to be closed because no cars will be able to enter or exit from the Broadway side due to the pedestrian mall.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:13pm

It's going to be EASIER to get to. Not harder.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:14pm

"It's going to be EASIER to get to. Not harder."

Please tell me how.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:16pm

I read it as that cars will not be allowed on BROADWAY between 42nd-47th. The streets will remain open to cars but Broadway itself will not.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:18pm

you won't get run over anymore?

I...honestly think it sounds like a good idea, but I must agree that I'm puzzled by what happens, then, to the cross streets. I don't drive or take cabs, so it doesn't really affect me.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:24pm

"The streets will remain open to cars but Broadway itself will not."

You're probably right but why don't they just say they will close Broadway and extend the sidewalks?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:28pm

The article explicitly states Broadway will be closed off.

NOT 42nd - 47th between Broadway & 8th.

[scott68]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:29pm

Bloomberg announced on Feb. 26 that beginning in May Broadway between 42nd Street and 47th Street will become a pedestrian mall, with café tables, umbrellas, planters and room for cyclists and foot traffic. Seventh Avenue runs (somewhat) parallel to Broadway at Times Square and would take on the major southbound traffic burden. Cross streets would continue to be open, feeding the theatre district.

I don't quite see what's unclear about that...

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:30pm

but, like, the streets are one way. if someone is taking a cab to, say, the Helen Hayes theater, and the cab comes from 8th Avenue, does this mean it'll just turn around and go back to 8th avenue?

[Dangerous Divine]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 12:37pm

I think it will be like what happens when there is a street fair. There will be mini-malls between (for example) 45th and 46th street, but where Broadway and 46th intersect, there will still be traffic lights that allow the eastbound/westbound (I'm blanking on which way 46th runs) traffic flow.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 1:05pm

And traffic runs ever so quickly and smoothly when they close off avenues for those street fairs. NOT.

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 1:15pm

I knd of like Times Square the way it is.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 1:18pm

I'm guessing you don't live in or near NYC.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 1:48pm

I think it will be like what happens when there is a street fair. There will be mini-malls between (for example) 45th and 46th street, but where Broadway and 46th intersect, there will still be traffic lights that allow the eastbound/westbound (I'm blanking on which way 46th runs) traffic flow.
right, duh. haha. I don't drive, so I never think about this.

I'm guessing you don't live in or near NYC.
who was that directed at?

Updated On: 2/26/09 at 01:48 PM

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 1:52pm

Goth, if you clutch any harder the pearls will crack.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 2:10pm

givemesvoice - that was directed at Uncageg for saying "I kind of like Times Square the way it is"

As someone who lived practically in Times Square for a good seven years and in the Village for five, I really beg to differ with that statement.

[Hank]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 6:53pm

The traffic problems in Times Square is not so much cars as it is pedestrians, mainly tour groups, especially around the holidays and spring time (class trips), with groups of teenagers just standing around waiting to be told "what do we do next".
Making more space for pedestrians to stand around might help move people along, but would make it tough for south bound traffic on 7th Ave.

[heo1128]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 6:56pm

All theater accessibility issues aside, I think this is such a dumb idea! It'll be nice to have a pedestrian area, but how will it relieve congestion to close off cross town roads?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 7:34pm

Mary Poppins Bloomberg rides again.

Next he will be telling us what clothes to wear in the morning & when to take a dump.

[yankees1253]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 7:37pm

i take the train in or if i drive my fam and i park on 8th or 9th avenue in a parking garage.

i hope he doesnt become mayor anymore.

[doubleentendre]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 7:40pm

Color me NOT excited. I live in Midtown West, on one of the aforementioned streets...so this is going to make my life hell with the added traffic. Sigh. Thanks Bloomberg.

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 7:41pm

Roxy, you're an idiot, in every thread you post in, you're an idiot.


How is what bloomberg's doing in ANYWAY similar to if he decided to legislate what you could where and when you had to crap?


why do you make such asinine statements? You exaggerate like a 14 year old girl.

[scott68]

Posted: 2/26/09 at 7:44pm

Like it's been said several times in this thread and in the accompanying articles, this will NOT close any cross-town streets, unless you count Broadway itself in that category.

The relief of the traffic on Seventh is (theoretically) because a. they're slightly widening it and b. green lights will stay green longer. Also, Broadway creates extremely awkward intersections when it hits avenues, which this will reduce.

I'm not saying it's going to work, and I don't personally care whether it happens or not, but the screeching around here is a little off-putting.