Archive - Imperfect Now

Cities Without Cars

The last time we were in Denver, the Mass transit options were limited to 10 blocks of an urban mall where a bus – only - avenue shuttled riders from one end to another. The New York Times Ran an Article today featuring Denver’s new mass transit plan: FasTracks. The comprehensive rail plan calls for building 120 miles of rail networks over the next 8 years.

Denver is taking a big step. Like many cities West of the Delaware, Denver was a car culture [some might even say a horse culture]. But like many of the rapidly growing cities, Denver is also struggling to deal with automobile traffic.

Suburban sprawl has clogged many cities across the country in recent years, even more than during the period of “white flight” in the 1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s. Suburbs have become the symbol of the last decade, with Soccer Moms and Mini-vans and Sport Utility Vehicles spilling onto once open freeways.

It’s not just Denver. Los Angeles has finally taken to urbanizing the sprawling city. They’ve begun to encourage vertical buildings with higher density, a move that eventually will support the extensive mass transit other urban areas already benefit from.

Portland, Oregon is considered one of the earliest adopters of “smart growth” mass transit planning. In the late 1970’s, Oregon realized the expanding Portland area would never be able to sustain its growth without either building hundreds of thousands of parking spaces or a mass transit system. As a result, Oregon now has one of the most integrated transit systems in the country including urban and suburban areas.

New York City, an anomaly of transportation considering its hulking size and area from which is draws is also beginning to deal with the harsh realities of moving commuters around. New York City moves millions of people everyday drawing commuters from as far away as Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

September 11th’s destruction of the World Trade Center was devastating, but also underlined another problem; the destruction of the WTC path station left thousands of commuters struggling to find alternate routes to Lower Manhattan.

Increased security on bridges restricted many drivers to carpools only entering the city. New Jersey Transit passenger rail spiked. Discussions on building additional bridges or tunnels in and out of New York became real possibilities as city planners realized that there were dangerously few connections between New York and New Jersey. The PATH trains that run between New Jersey and the New York were the most recent connections between the two states and are already more than thirty years old.

Inside New York, the aging subway system is also beginning to struggle to meet demand. New automated subways are being added that will when complete be essentially entirely driven by computer, doubling or tripling train capacity. But the short end of it is that New York City’s subway lines will soon be incapacitated by the surging number of riders, even as the MTA raises prices.

Here’s what we propose: close New York City to automobiles.

New York City is already a mass transit culture. The subway runs 24 hours a day to meet demand. Pedestrians are increasingly causing congestion on the busiest sidewalks, especially around Times Square and other tourist destinations. Ten years ago, then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani attempted to fix this problem with pedestrian fences meant to forces crowds to sidewalks on corners. New Yorkers being New Yorkers had none of this and just jumped the hurdles. Most of the fences were removed from all but the most crowded streets. In either case, without cars, pedestrians could flood onto avenues and streets without fear of being run down.

New Yorkers are already on average thinner and healthier than the rest of the country, mostly because they walk so frequently. Encouraging pedestrians and “walking trips” would help New Yorkers remain fit and trim. Increased pedestrian traffic would also benefit local merchants who would see more customers; people in cars cannot often simply park and walk into any store they see as they would in the suburbs.

New York is a big place. The subway system will eventually not be able to handle all the riders, and with the elimination of cars in New York, there will be even more of them crowding into the 100 year old system. We say its time to bring light rail to New York’s avenues. Without cars, light rail lines could easily move people short distances above ground quickly. The subway system could then be converted to a dedicated express route to move people much further than the surface rail would. Essentially, the surface rail would be for local trains and subways would move people long distances.

Installing light rail in Manhattan would also allow cars to be phased out over time. For instance, already in New York certain streets and avenues are designated as “Thru Streets”. Turns are prohibited except at specific locations, usually at major roadways several blocks apart. Take this a step further: close some avenues to cars and begin building a light rail network.

Begin the project with two extremes—say 3rd and 8th avenue—and begin building two surface rail connections connecting Downtown, Midtown, and Uptown. Closing just two avenues will not dramatically interrupt traffic flow. Once the rail connections are complete, begin closing off parallel avenues in close proximity, then move to the streets and back alleys. Eventually, the entire city could be close to cars and easier to navigate.

Meanwhile, the connecting bridges and tunnels could be converted to mass transit systems. The Holland tunnel could become another rail connection allowing more trains from New Jersey Transit to enter the Lower Manhattan. The Lincoln tunnel could be dedicated to buses; it already carries thousands between the two states, and without all those other single occupancy cars clogging the tunnel, it might actually be an efficient way into New York. The George Washington Bridge could continue carrying cars—but only along route 95, thus improving interstate freight by quickly moving traffic along the corridor. Essentially, banning cars from Manhattan would reduce the need for new connections into New York.

But not only would New Yorkers save money not having to build larger bridge and tunnel networks, but parking garages could be converted to saleable real estate. The average apartment sale in New York just past $1 million. Rentals in New York are equally astronomical. Eliminating cars would free up acres and acres of space that could be converted to office, retail, and residential spaces.

Banning cars is also a security issue. Car bombs are still the easiest way for a terrorist to deliver a blow to Manhattan. The first World Trade Center attack was a rented van. Several new buildings are built with large distances and barriers between their base and the street because of car bomb threats. But by eliminating common automobiles, security could be increased to the freight traffic that enters New York ensuring tighter security and faster processing of trucks bringing in the city’s vitals.

A car free New York is perhaps decades away, if it were to ever occur. Grappling with the transportation needs to New York are like tackling no other problem. Even the most extensive mass transit systems cannot compare. It’s unlikely many other cities in the United States could even contemplate doing away with cars. Many cities are still dependent on automobiles, but it’s a good sign that many of these cities are undertaking massive rail projects to ensure their mobility in the future. As for New York, we would like to see pedestrians conquer cars, but we understand there will be a lot of opposition. But New Yorkers are fickle, and strong willed. Only time will tell.