Here's what's down the road for Lower Manhattan Streets

"My goal is to get to the point where you guys want to live down here again," Andrew Salkin, the city Department of Transportation's Commissioner for Lower Manhattan, told Community Board 1 on April 3 in an update on Downtown's beleaguered streets. Salkin's job was created in February to coordinate the massive road construction and utility work underway in the aftermath of Sept. 11. "There was no one person who was totally in charge," Salkin said. "So the idea is to at least say someone is in charge and see what happens." The board was pleased with what they heard. "There were times when agencies didn't talk to each other for years," said Richard Kennedy, who heads CB1's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "This is really working. It's a miracle." Below are highlights of the commissioner's report. Liberty Street reopens on April 15: Southbound traffic on West Street will be able to loop uptown without traveling to the bottom of Manhattan. Salkin said he is reluctant to reopen other streets in the area because of the danger posed by drivers from out of town. "People don't understand that we don't have a right turn on red law," said Salkin, adding that he has narrowly missed being hit more than once while crossing the street. New walkway at Liberty Street: Coinciding with the scheduled April 15 reopening of Liberty Street, a covered walkway along Liberty will connect Church Street to Battery Park City. The walkway will link to the Liberty Street bridge across West Street, which has been closed since Sept.

Bike path reopening:
Next month, a temporary bikeway-walkway will be restored along the Hudson River, from North Moore Street to Chambers Street, Salkin said. The permanent path is due to be completed in June. That segment of the bikeway-walkway has been closed to allow for the debris removal operation at Pier 25.

Street resurfacing:
Lower Manhattan streets, dug up and beaten down following Sept. 11, will be smoothed over in an ongoing repaving program, funded by a $130 million federal grant. "Many of the roadways will be great for the bikers and great for the cars," Salkin said. He promised that Tribeca's nearly impassable Washington and Greenwich streets between Canal and Hubert will be repaired.

Major (and far more disruptive) street reconstruction is several years down the road.

Removal of shunts:
The Con Ed shunts—those wood-covered extension cords running along streets and protected by concrete barriers—will begin being removed next month and the last, running to Battery Park City, by July, at the latest. Salkin said an effort is finally underway to sweep out the garbage that collects between the shunt and the curb.
Verizon shunts, identifiable by the small wooden houses that contain them, will be in place longer.

Fewer permits:
Local drivers may be finding more spaces in Lower Manhattan, due to a squeeze on the number of parking permits given out to city and state agencies. Salkin said that each city agency was asked to reduce their requests for parking permits by 30 percent. Law enforcement agencies are to get a 20 percent reduction.

"It's been a great exercise for the agencies to go through," Salkin said, "and when fully implemented I think it's going to make an important difference."