Exclusive | Midtown residents claim car restrictions on 34th Street will clog nabes with traffic, worsen their lives

Residents in Midtown Manhattan complain they’re getting thrown under the bus by the Adams’ administration.The city Transportation Department is proposing banning or restricting cars on 34th Street by creating a busway to speed up bus commutes and truck deliveries between 3rd and 9th Avenues — provoking outrage from residents who fear rerouted traffic will clog their streets and worsen their lives.Motorists would be required to avoid the busway from Third Avenue to 9th Avenue altogether.Other cars or livery drivers who need to enter 34th Street must exit at the next avenue where a turn is permitted.DOT officials said they want to replicate the success of the so-called busway on 14th Street, which reduced congestion, sped up bus travel and curbed accidents.But there is a big difference: 34th Street is an access point for entrance and exits for the Midtown and Lincoln tunnels.Residents in Murray Hill worry that drivers coming out of the Midtown tunnel would be diverted onto their residential local streets.“It’s just going to congest all our side streets,” Murray Hill resident Michael- Ann Rowe said following a June 2 DOT presentation at a Community Board 6 transportation committee meeting last week.Another resident, Andrew Fine, said, “the collateral damage will be immense.Please just give it up on this project.”The Murray HIll Neighborhood Association is going to bat for residents.“Limiting access for residents and businesses with entrances on 34th Street, while diverting traffic from this critical corridor onto narrow residential streets would lead to increased congestion, safety hazards, and diminished quality of life in the neighborhood” said Jessica Lavoie,” chair of the MHNA’s quality of life committee.There are 28,000 commuters who ride on the MS 34 bus routes and other express routes along the 34th Street corridor daily.There is as already a dedicated bus lane on 34th Street.But the average weekday speed for an MTA bus is 5 miles per ho...