It's a case of arrested development, as local opposition has derailed ambitious plans to greatly expand bus priority on streets around the city of New York.
"Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 'urgent' effort to install new busways across the city as part of its coronavirus reopening plan has stalled in the city’s planning bureaucracy," reports Nolan Hicks.
In June, the mayor announced an initiative to vastly expand the bus priority capacity by deploying car-free busways and dedicated bus lanes throughout the city. The first planned project, a busway on Main Street between Sanford and Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens, has yet to break ground, according to Hicks.
"Two months later, officials admitted Thursday they haven’t even broken ground and attributed the delays to intense opposition from some business owners along the corridor and local Councilman Peter Koo (D-Queens)," reports Hicks.
Only one of the five projects announced in June is underway. "The conversion of Jay Street from Fulton to Tillary streets into a dedicated transit passage is set to be completed in September, one month late."
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