New Haven Independent

posted by: anonymous on September 4, 2012  1:48pm

There are a few bike parking spots, but no bike lanes.  Seems like the Mayor overlooked a key detail.

posted by: Long Time NH Resident on September 4, 2012  2:05pm

1) Since when did the NHPD every give two hoots about traffic problems in New Haven ?

2) Who’s paying for all the extra Police or are we taking personnel from other districts?

3) How did this happen in the first place with all the “planning” that went on?

4) And it begins- Wait until RT 34 is “filled-in” and ALL traffic is Diverted down Church St.

Typical New Haven Business Development, build it, then worry where to put everybody.

Oh and then quadruple the taxes.

posted by: Bruce on September 4, 2012  2:05pm

After hearing a dismal traffic report, I left a little early this morning and braced myself for the worst and…nothing.  Perfectly smooth ride through town—and I passed just a couple blocks from Gateway.  People are going to find alternative routes.

posted by: Cinderella on September 4, 2012  2:06pm

And here we go. 8,000 students and staff all vying to get into and out of the very same two lane exits that everyone else does in the early morning and late afternoon. So much for long range planning and forward-thinking.

posted by: SaveOurCity on September 4, 2012  2:08pm

How many cities in the Northeast would give anything to have increased traffic challenges.  I’ll bet the vacant lots in Bridgeport, Hartford, Buffalo….etc have very few problems with gridlock.

posted by: Threefifths on September 4, 2012  2:39pm

Blame the crooked Two Party system,That you all keep voting in.

posted by: anonymous on September 4, 2012  3:39pm

SaveOurCity is correct. Traffic congestion is a sign of economic health. Planners should be looking for ways to increase congestion in city centers, not decrease it.

The corollary to this rule is that, if you want to see sustainable growth and economic development in the long term, mass transit is the only way to achieve it. Unfortunately, our new Board of Aldermen “leadership” killed a longstanding Federal & State funded project this year that could have greatly expanded our bus and mass transit system, creating 1,500 good union jobs in the process. Apparently, the CCNE-funded Aldermen were so focused on more ways that they could bully Yale and Downtown developers into creating a “job pipeline” for a few of their friends, that they forgot that economic development is the only way to actually lower our unemployment rate. After giving the State and Feds the center finger, it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing more investment, at least not until we elect someone new.

The congestion is also a sign that we could be charging more for parking. We don’t give out free pizza in Downtown New Haven - I’m not sure why we give out free (or close to free) parking. 

Until we act on these things, our city won’t ever be on the upward trajectories and plummeting poverty rates that you see in places like Boston/Cambridge, Portland, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Washington DC.

posted by: WestvilleAdvocate on September 4, 2012  4:10pm

What did the city and state except would happen by putting another college campus downtown?

New Haven needs better public transportation for residents.  If all the residents in New Haven could get to work in New Haven by bike or by a more efficient public transportation system that would get rid of many cars.  The fact that I have to drive from Westville to Union Station is appalling but speaks volumes to the archaic transportation system.

posted by: NHPDHartman on September 4, 2012  4:26pm

Shaggybob. Gateway is hiring and paying for over a half dozen traffic duty Officers each day. Those Officers are supplemented by Officers from the NHPD traffic division (not from other districts) as needed and to the degree they’ll be effective.  Otherwise, managing long term traffic issues is not a Police matter. Policing is a Police matter.

No matter what methods are tried, Police Officers can not speed up the process of cars entering parking garages. In time, it stands to reason, that those who don’t need to exit Rt 34 near the college will help matters by finding an easier alternate rout.

posted by: Long Time NH Resident on September 4, 2012  4:35pm

I agree with Westville. We need RELIABLE MASS TRANSPORTATION. I tried riding the bus for a year. Bus was late EVERY DAY and even forwarded my bus pass to CT Transit to show time stamps. They didn’t care, just cried it took over a year to change bus schedule. Most evenings it was a gamble to get home after 5pm- some nights bus NEVER CAME.(or forced to take alternate bus and walk a half mile) I finally gave up as it was cheaper to drive and pay for parking. (i.e. time = money ). Took me 40 minutes round trip or less as compared with waiting 30 minutes for buses that MIGHT show up…eventually.
I disagree with the notion that gridlock is a good thing for cities. Why would anyone want to come into a congested City let alone live there?? Pollution poisoning.
BTW Anon Parking is $3 per hr- how is that cheap.?? And we don’t have enough spaces per building occupancy at last count.

posted by: DownTownNewHaven on September 4, 2012  5:14pm

A serious design flaw in the GCC garage means that traffic will not be getting much better until they fix it. On a one way street they have the garage exit right before the garage entrance. This means that cars can enter or exit but never both at the same time.

They will need at least one or two cops a day for this reason alone. Who is responsible for approving the design of this backwards garage?

posted by: anonymous on September 4, 2012  5:18pm

Shaggy: Economies are measured not in terms of vehicle delay, but in terms of the dollar value of the goods and services that they produce. Areas with vehicle delay are the areas that people want to come to and conduct business - if you look across all U.S. cities, there is a direct relationship. As SaveOurCity points out, if you don’t want traffic delay, move to Buffalo NY where most of the city’s downtown is a parking lot.

posted by: Joe Schmoe on September 4, 2012  5:26pm

For a city to really be economically successful and sustainable you need to utilize as much of the space as possible for buildings of mixed-use.  In other words, you can’t just provide as much parking supply as some people would prefer.  The problem with providing “enough” parking is that you have to do so by removing buildings and thus killing the type of proven urban form that worked for centuries prior to the age of the automobile.

Look at any vibrant city and you’ll see that not everyone gets around by car.  They have more balanced transportation systems with good options to walk, bike, take transit, etc.  This is where New Haven needs to continue heading. 

Also, a lot of this initial gridlock will sort itself out in due time as people chose alternate routes, modify their schedules, and so on.

posted by: downtown dweller on September 4, 2012  10:33pm

This is an interesting bit of newspeak:

“That’s not going to happen again,” Benton said. “He didn’t completely understand where people were trying to go. [He was attempting] to move traffic in a more productive direction.”

Is “productive” now a synonym for “wrong”?

posted by: WestvilleAdvocate on September 5, 2012  7:29am

Here is one answer.  I have lived in both cities and it works when rolled out ALL over the city:

http://www.bixisystem.com/

posted by: Curious on September 5, 2012  9:45am

Why is New Haven always, always, always playing catch-up?  I can;t help but think that no smart people work at City Hall.  How did the entrance/exit idiocy of the parking garage even happen?!  Jim Travers ought to be embarrassed.  They should call that the Traversty Garage.

posted by: Curious on September 5, 2012  9:50am

Anonymous, a direct relationship does NOT imply a causal relationship. 

“Areas with vehicle delay are the areas that people want to come to and conduct business”

That is not a causal relationship.

If we increased the length of each red light to be a three-minute stop, the area, or any area, would become severely congested.  That would have NOTHING to do with how desirable the area was, and everything to do with how poorly the transit system was handled.

posted by: SaveOurCity on September 5, 2012  9:52am

@Curious

You are spot on.  The parking mess (as well as the budget mess and the safety mess and….) is a result of 20 years of King John giving jobs to political buds rather than competent performers.

I hope we have a viable alternative in 2013.

posted by: Curious on September 5, 2012  9:53am

For all those citing the economic benefits of GCC versus actual stores….

I don’t know that New Haven gets any direct benefit from GCC being downtown.  It’s not New Haven Community College.  All that tuition money goes to the state.  New Haven may get some increased business from the heavier traffic and student presence, but it’s not like people are flocking to some new downtown mall full of retail shops that will be paying local taxes into the city’s coffers.

posted by: anonymous on September 5, 2012  10:13am

WestvilleAdvocate, Bridgeport just got a huge Federal grant to create one of those. This is probably a good thing, considering the fact that when New Haven wins similarly large grants to create sustainable mass transportation, our current Board of Aldermen “leadership” (now entirely controlled by suburban Unions who want more free parking, and little else) votes down the free money.

posted by: brain_stringcheese on September 5, 2012  11:39am

this is what I have to sit through to get to work every other morning.  With the new gateway campus I will be appalled if the new “cutting edge design” for the 34 connector actually happens.  traffic will be insane, and I agree with whoever commented already about a better public transit system.  let’s make new haven a city worth living in.  let’s get that trolly system, but it shouldnt just go from downtown to east rock, it needs to extend to fair haven and westville.  the city bus stops like every two blocks i can’t stand it.

posted by: Stephen Harris on September 5, 2012  12:45pm

This is what happens when you put a commuter school in the middle of downtown. Long Wharf has good highway and transit access. Oh well, too late now.

posted by: Ladybug on September 5, 2012  5:02pm

Guess its just me but I like having a grown up real people college downtown not a prep school! I like that there is an influx of REAL people…I am convinced that people should utilize the bus even if it is a LITTLE inconvenient. Get with the times people - cities all across the country are dropping the car/gas/CT Motor Vehicle robbery…get on the bus! For a $1.30 u can ride a looooonnngggg time!!!!