The City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to change the direction of traffic on a one-way street in Tribeca. Jay Street, which runs for one block between Greenwich and Hudson Streets (two blocks, if you count the intersection with Staple Street, an alley that seems to function mainly as a location for film and television shoots) has run only eastbound for decades.
“The DOT came to us to reverse traffic on Jay Street because the Fire Department had suggested this for emergency service purposes,” explained Elizabeth Lewisohn at the March 28 meeting of Community Board 1 (CB1). Ms. Lewisohn, chair of CB1’s Tribeca Committee, continued, “nobody really wanted traffic reversed or understood why it was necessary.”
A City DOT map of Tribeca showing the circuitous path that emergency vehicles based in the Civic Center neighborhood must now follow to reach Tribeca.
In November, 2016, the Fire Department requested that DOT conduct a feasibility study to determine the impact of reversing traffic on Jay Street, so that cars would flow westbound, because of a traffic puzzle that has confounded generations of Lower Manhattan motorists: Jay is one of four consecutive blocks (the others are Duane, Franklin, and Harrison Streets) that require traffic to move west to east.
This means that fire trucks or ambulances based in Tribeca’s Engine 7/Ladder 1 firehouse, located at 100 Duane Street (between Church Street and Broadway) responding to an emergency on lower Greenwich Street must divert uptown along Hudson Street, before turning left (west) onto North Moore Street, and then left again to proceed south on Greenwich Street. This entails going almost half a mile out of their way, along two of the most heavily trafficked streets in Lower Manhattan: Hudson Street (which is often at a standstill with cars approaching the Holland Tunnel) and Greenwich Street (which is the main southbound artery servicing Tribeca). During times of heavy congestion, this can add 30 minutes or more to the time required for emergency vehicles need to respond to a request for help located less than half a mile from the firehouse on Duane Street.
The proposed change could cut the distance that first responders are forced to travel out of their way by as much as half, which could mean that their travel time would also be significantly reduced.
One constituency that might find this change objectionable would be parents at P.S. 150, which is located at the intersection of Greenwich and Jay Streets. The current street configuration directs traffic away from the school’s front door (indirectly, at least, lowering the risk that vehicles pose for students), while the proposed change would divert traffic toward the facility.
At the March 28 meeting, CB1 member Marc Ameruso acknowledged that a change on one of the four eastbound streets would helpful to emergency vehicles, but voiced concern that, “Jay Street would turn into a loop,” in which traffic was directed counterclockwise around Jay, Greenwich, Duane, and Hudson Streets. Mr. Ameruso continued, “Harrison Street would be a better choice.”
Ms. Lewisohn concluded the discussion by saying that, “we asked DOT to find an alternative — maybe Harrison Street. And they agreed to back to us with their findings.”