City nixes plans for 34th St. pedestrian plaza

The city is dropping its plans to build a 34th Street pedestrian plaza between Fifth and Sixth avenues in Manhattan in the midst of mounting criticism from the community, the Bloomberg administration announced yesterday. The project, which would have barred automobiles on the block between Herald Square and the Empire State Building and established bus-only lanes separated by concrete barriers on either side by the end of 2012, will now be revised and unveiled to the public March 14, Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told the New York Times. It’s unclear whether the bus lanes, which residents and business owners had feared would block access to their buildings and create more car traffic on side streets, will remain as part of the plan, but Sadik-Khan did say that curbside building access for parking, deliveries and drop-offs would be expanded in the revised version. The city is now slated to release its final designs for 34th Street in the fall, with construction beginning in the spring of 2012. [NYT]