NOVA IORQUE: "Broadway is NO way"

It's curtains for cars on Broadway.

Starting Sunday, vehicles will be barred from the legendary roadway in Times Square and Herald Square as it is transformed into a pedestrian-only area with a food festival, an outdoor yoga studio and a kickball arena, officials said yesterday.

All traffic will be diverted from Broadway between 47th and 42nd streets and between 35th and 33rd streets, said Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Drivers will have to move to Seventh or Ninth avenues to get downtown.

It's all part of a $1.5 million plan to turn sections of Broadway into massive pedestrian plazas, a plan that Mayor Bloomberg said will ease the grueling traffic bottlenecks that happen near major intersections.

Officials aren't wasting any time turning the Great White Way into the Great Walkway.

On June 7, the city will broadcast the Tony Awards to a live audience sitting on what used to be Broadway's traffic lanes.

Top-notch restaurants will also be out for a Taste of Times Square event on June 8.

Other events, like kickball, capture the flag, and yoga at sunrise, will come later in June.

Construction on the Times Square plazas will be done by Aug. 16, and Herald Square will be finished Aug. 23, officials said.

Sadik-Khan said the closures will "take some getting used to," for drivers, but she doesn't expect any traffic nightmares.

"We actually think traffic is going to improve coming down Seventh Avenue when we're knitting it together," she said.

"I think it'll still take a period of adjustment, though," she acknowledged. Officials begged motorists not to get caught up in any early confusion. "Give it time to see how it works," said Times Square alliance chief Tim Tompkins.
DOT crews will be out monitoring traffic, Sadik-Khan said. The plan is causing a divide among business owners.

A manager at Grand Slam, a trinkets store on Broadway, said he thinks the increased foot traffic will bring him more customers.

"It helps me," said John Palha, who has managed the store for 11 years. "When there's less cars on the street, people can get here. They can walk right over and come in."

But store owners on the Seventh Avenue side said the increased car traffic and sinking economy might tank their business.

"It could very possibly put me under," said a businessman who runs a camera and computer store. "It's not good for me. It's much more attractive for the other side."

in NEW YORK POST, 20 de Maio de 2009