"Ditching" the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway

So Gothamist and The Brooklyn Paper posted plans of covering the open cuts of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway with parks, gardens, or high-tech trellises.

Image courtesy of The Brooklyn Paper

Image courtesy of The Brooklyn Paper

Image courtesy of The Brooklyn Paper

Articulating the Need to Move Between Subway Cars

So Ben at Second Avenue Sagas posted on the MTA's ban on riders moving between subway cars.

Does the MTA’s ban on inter-car travel make sense? Five years ago, MTA Board member Barry Feinstein defended the rule. “It’s dangerous. It’s not smart, and you shouldn’t do it,” he said. The number of people who get a ticket though far outweigh the one or two a year who suffer injury while switching cars.

The reasons for moving between subway cars are legion. Take Nora Hsu's story for example.

NY Post: Chad Rachman

An officer on patrol on the platform spotted her crossing and ordered her off the train.
"I told the cop, 'Cut me some slack. I'm 32 weeks pregnant, and I'm just trying to get home,' " she recalled for The Post. "I was out of breath."
But the officer said, "It doesn't matter," and wrote the ticket.

The New Tappan Zee Bridge, Now With Rail

Officials from NYSDOT, the MTA, and New York State Thruway Authority have announced that the Tappan Zee Bridge/Interstate 287 Corridor Project has narrowed the designs for a new bridge from six to the two that are rendered below.

"Third Avenue Subway" (Route #3 from 1905)

Supplementing the First Avenue Subway (Route #1) and—one would assume—eliminating the need for a 3rd Avenue Elevated, William Barclay Parsons designed a four-track subway to run under 3rd Avenue and Bowery. It's complicated set of tracks in the Bronx belie an ambition of the original transit planners; to have the city's subways operated by private railroad companies such as the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad. In Midtown, there's also an interesting crosstown connection along 35th and 36th Streets.