An important addition to The Esplanade’s accessibility improvements that arrived in April — a new bus lane — isn’t making a lot of people happy. The 200-foot-long on-street bus lane snakes through the Greenwich Village waterfront, making it easier for people to get from one end of the road to the other.
But drivers are confused by the way the lane works — and many have complained about its lack of signage. As traffic engineers at the city Department of Transportation said when they unveiled the lane, drivers either need to get used to the lane, or avoid driving through it altogether.
The lane is for buses only and buses are required to move with the flow of traffic.
A $17 million effort to remake the area, which includes bike lanes, transit stations and more sidewalks, also included a $250,000 sign project to make the project easier for residents to read and navigate. Those signs were actually at a better location on The Esplanade than the lane itself, however, due to some unsightly sea trash. Without the new signage, the lane might have been confusing to drivers.
The new lanes get very little foot traffic compared to other streets in Greenwich Village and are only used during the morning rush, making them a disappointment for many. The lanes are a focus point for many other disruptions throughout the city, like the stop/go Fifth Avenue traffic and the chokehold of F- and M-train construction on Houston Street.
Read the full story on The New York Times.