Thurs., May 15 – Wed., May 21, 2014
ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING RULES ARE IN EFFECT ALL WEEK
Gridlock alert! President Obama and the First Lady will attend the dedication ceremony for the September 11 Memorial and Museum, which starts at 10 a.m. Thursday. Security will be very tight and many streets will be closed near Ground Zero in the area bounded by Liberty St., Rector St., Broadway, and West St. After the ceremony, the First Couple will likely close streets in the Financial District as they head to the Wall St. heliport and chopper back to J.F.K. Follow me on Twitter @gridlocksam for more updates.
Tie-ups ahead for the East River crossings: one tube of the Battery Tunnel will close 9 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, leaving one lane open in each direction in the other tube. That will send more traffic to the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Overnight, the Manhattan Bridge will be especially swamped as all Manhattan-bound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge will close midnight Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday and midnight Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday. In Lower Manhattan, Canal St. will get hit with the traffic coming off the Manhattan Bridge.
Expect the usual Thursday night scramble in the Hudson River tunnels when the New York-bound tube of the Lincoln Tunnel and one New York-bound lane in the Holland Tunnel closes 11 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday. The remaining inbound lane in the Holland Tunnel will be slow all the way through to Canal St., so try to get back into the city before the closure if you can.
On West St./Route 9A, one lane will close in each direction between West Thames and Vesey Sts. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
A dance parade will boogie down Broadway to Union Square to St. Marks Place 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon, closing Broadway between 23rd and 17th Sts., Union Square West between 17th and 14th Sts., University Pl. between 14th and Eighth Sts., Eighth St. between University Pl. and Cooper Square, and St. Marks Pl. between Third Ave. and Avenue A. This will affect southbound traffic, so expect an uptick on Second Ave. down to Houston St.
Taste of Tribeca will close Duane St. between Greenwich and Hudson Sts. and Greenwich St. between Reade and Jay Sts. 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
The Arthritis Foundation Awareness Walk will close parts of streets and sidewalks 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Financial District: Centre St. between Worth St. and Park Row, the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian walkway, and Park Row between Worth and Centre Sts.
A spring celebration will close Hudson St. between Chambers and Reade Sts. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.
Send your parking and traffic questions to transitsam@downtownexpress.com.
