Michael Bloomberg will leave office next Jan. 1, but his war on midtown traffic will continue into his successor’s term — at least for a month.
The reason is next year’s Super Bowl, which will be played in New Jersey. This week Mayor Mike and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that, as part of the celebrations, a 10-block stretch of midtown Manhattan will be turned into “Super Bowl Boulevard,” where folks can check out the Vince Lombardi Trophy, attend concerts and enjoy NFL-themed exhibits.
For four days Broadway will be completely shut down from 34th to 44th Street.
Now, the mayor has been targeting Midtown traffic for years. He’s shut down Broadway at Herald Square and Times Square, for example, and installed “pedestrian plazas.” And his transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, has removed hundreds of miles of traffic lanes in favor of underused bike lanes.
No one seems to have considered that New York a year hence could very well have a replay of the cold snap we’re now enduring.
If so, how fitting that would make Mayor Mike’s parting gift: a Midtown frozen in gridlock as well as temperature.