Will IKEA Be a Traffic Nightmare for Red Hook?
Today’s NY Post has a story that looks at the measures being taken to mitigate the car and people traffic that some believe is going to overwhelm Red Hook when the home-furnishings giant opens next month. First off, there’s going to be a free Water Taxi running between Lower Manhattan and IKEA every 40 minutes…
Today’s NY Post has a story that looks at the measures being taken to mitigate the car and people traffic that some believe is going to overwhelm Red Hook when the home-furnishings giant opens next month. First off, there’s going to be a free Water Taxi running between Lower Manhattan and IKEA every 40 minutes when the store is open. Second, the MTA is extending the B61 and B77 bus lines so they stop directly in front of the store, and IKEA is going to offer a free shuttle between the Borough Hall/Court Street, Smith/9th Street, and 4th Avenue/9th Street subway stops every 10 minutes. The closest subway stop to IKEA, Smith/9th, is more than a mile away from the store. The retailer built 1,400 parking spots and expects 14,000 cars to flock to the store every Saturday. John McGettrick, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Alliance, believes that number is going to be closer to 20,000, and he says the traffic is going to sink Red Hook’s character. “There’s been no IKEA in this country ever put in a situation like this; most others like the ones in Elizabeth and Paramus in New Jersey have direct access off highways,” says McGettrick. “This is on a tiny peninsula that is basically a dead end.”
IKEA Goes to Se-a in Red Hook [NY Post]
Photo by marko boni.
BTW, if you have anything you need to return to Ikea, do it now. When there is a new store opening they pretends like they are the perfect store for a little while. You could take a crap at the return desk and convince them you bought it at Ikea. Seriously.
“I am utterly befuddled by the support of this grand opening. It breaks my heart into itty bitty pieces. One of the very best parts of New York City is about to become a congested traffic nightmare crawling with Ikea comers. It is heart breaking. And it was a terrible, terrible allowance. Should never have happened.”
Cosign
I am utterly befuddled by the support of this grand opening. It breaks my heart into itty bitty pieces. One of the very best parts of New York City is about to become a congested traffic nightmare crawling with Ikea comers. It is heart breaking. And it was a terrible, terrible allowance. Should never have happened.
The lack of subway service is not what has hurt Red Hook. Sometimes limited mass transit can actually be a plus. What has hurt the area is the large and notorious housing project at its very heart and the mob, which has run the waterfront for generations. It will never be a nice place to live. The IKEA will be great, very successful I’m sure. Even I will drive by and take a look. As for traffic, this is a city of traffic, since when has traffic been considered a bad thing? You want no traffic? move to Bufallo!
upper middle class people aren’t rich?
They are the rich we see in Brooklyn.
the upperclass mega-rich are rarely sighted here exceot perhaps on their way to Long Island or at the annual fund raiser at BAM or the Botanic Gardens.
Just fyi
Those are called rich people, not upper middle class. Completly dishonest thing to say.
Teens and single moms need to work close to home.
4:18 – the point is there is no subway in Red Hook for these people to get on. They need to be able to walk to work because the bus is not reliable.
i live on the corner of columbia st and kane street. many of the drivres will be coming via the bqe (from points north, inclusive of the manhattan and brooklyn bridges), and will get off on the atlantic avenue exit of the bqe. this is a misnomer, as it actually dumps you off onto columbia street. drivers will head south on columbia, passing my apartment and all the others on this RESIDENTIAL block (there is some local retail on the ground floors too…, but they will benefit from the traffic i hope – they need it). they will make the right on degraw, and the left on van brunt, and from there they will crawl into red hook. it is gonna be a clusterfuck.