Growing Pains in Booming Red Hook
On an errand in Red Hook yesterday, a reader encountered three separate instances of stopped traffic as a result of an 18-wheeler trying to take a short cut down a side street. This particular scene took place at the corner of Van Brunt and King Streets and got our correspondent ranting: Why can’t these idiots…
On an errand in Red Hook yesterday, a reader encountered three separate instances of stopped traffic as a result of an 18-wheeler trying to take a short cut down a side street. This particular scene took place at the corner of Van Brunt and King Streets and got our correspondent ranting:
Why can’t these idiots turn on to Imlay at Hamilton, and then curve down the westernmost 1/2 block of Pioneer to Conover (hugging the shipyard), and route their trucks on streets more appropriate for their traffic? Snapple, other manufacturing warehouses, Fairway, everything…it’s all accessible that way. Why do they insist on plugging up Van Brunt, attempting these side
street short cuts with huge multi-point turns that many of them are
simply too big for in the first place?
Why indeed.
Every place has pros and cons. I live in Red Hook and I have lot of positives things to say about it:
It is posible to find parking.
It is pet friendly. It has Beautifull parks.
The real estate is going up and the
rnts are strong (Fairway Apts).
It has has friendly PJ’s.
The police is in the streets 24/7
It has water taxi,local designers,…
There are also bad things, SO!
DEAL WITH IT !!!! OR MOVE OUT
I can’t wait untill IKEA arrives and all of Red Hook and the BQE is in gridlock. It will be the downfall of IKEA!
brownstoner,
how did you like fairways??
did it meet your great expectations??
There is a water taxi stop right at the Fairway. It runs all weekend but not during the week yet. And believe it or not, some people are actually using the buses that service the area as well. So I wouldn’t say that every single customer coming in is driving. But more than a water taxi, which is privately owned and operated, we need additional transportation that runs 24/7 and is part of the MTA and keyed into the Metro Card system and thus more affordable.
I was at Fairway on Sunday and the parking lot was jammed. You are so right about the signs helping people through the area. A water taxi stop would be nice. About Red Hook, don’t forget about how the banks all red lined the neighborhood so no one could get any cash.
The problem is that every pickup and delivery in the neighborhood (not to mention the city), is via truck. Despite the fact Red Hook is at water’s edge and once benefited from a very robust rail-and-sea network, none of that remains.
So except for those few, brave walkers and bicylists, every goddamned customer of Fairway, Ikea and the Cruise Ship Terminal will arive by their very own internal combustion engine. And so will every truck that serves them.
Thank you Mike Bloomberg and your deputy mayors for economic development, and thank you Marty Markowitz.
If they’d wanted, Red Hook could have looked like Montreal’s Lachine Canal or Amsterdam’s industrial / warehouse district. But not in this country. You want big box stores? Greg O’Connell’s got ’em.
Armchair,
I believe the chord struck here is less about whining, more about the need for amendments/improvements to decades-old truck route zoning to match significant changes in demands on the neighborhood in recent years.
As others above have pointed out, plenty can be done to improve a situation that’s only getting worse by the month.
they have alot of ware houses in the area. and the trucks make alot trips into those things and depots. so stop whining about the trucks making turns. they’ll be there for along time!!!
Between Fairway, the Cunard/QM2 dock, and IKEA, it’s really time for the DOT to figure out some new routes and — most critically — new SIGNAGE to help the increasing amount of traffic in Red Hook. The neighborhood is a complete maze for most visitors and even nearby residents. Frankly, IMHO IKEA will cause a traffic nightmare in Red Hook.