City To Crack Down On Drivers Blocking These NYC Intersections

NEW YORK, NY — Blocking a busy intersection is more likely to earn New York City drivers a costly ticket starting this week. The NYPD plans to start "aggressively" ticketing drivers for "blocking the box" at 50 key crossings around the city, officials announced Monday.

The city Department of Transportation has installed new signs and road markings at the intersections — more than half of which are in Manhattan — to deter drivers from pulling into them when there's not room to get all the way through.

The NYPD is hiring 50 new officers to bolster its enforcement efforts, city officials said. A ticket comes with a minimum $115 fine, along with possible points that could lead to the loss of one's driver's license.

The effort is a piece of Mayor Bill de Blasio's five-point initiative to reduce traffic congestion, a problem that blocking the box exacerbates, officials say. Vehicle speeds in Midtown Manhattan have slowed by 23 percent since 2010, de Blasio said in October.

"Drivers who block intersections are contributing to overall congestion, and their disregard of this particular traffic rule comes at the expense of other drivers including emergency vehicles," Thomas Chan, the NYPD's chief of transportation, said in a statement. "Additionally, pedestrians are endangered when they have to navigate between vehicles that are blocking crosswalks."

The city is targeting intersections along major roads leading to business districts, highway ramps and river crossings, officials said. Some 27 are in Manhattan, Queens has 12, Brooklyn and Staten Island have five each and one is in the Bronx.

Several other proposals are on the table to help free up the city's streets, including a politically contentious "congestion pricing" plan to toll cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street and use the revenue to fund the city's subway system.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed allowing the city to use cameras at intersections to ticket drivers for blocking the box, as it already does to catch drivers running red lights.

De Blasio's anti-congestion initiative also includes opening curbside lanes to traffic during the day on seven Midtown streets, barring curbside deliveries during rush hours in three congested areas, and various other efforts to improve traffic flow.

Here's the full list of intersections where blocking the box is more likely to get you a ticket.

Manhattan

1. Broadway & West 57 Street

2. Dyer Avenue & West 41 Street

3. Fort Washington Avenue & West 165 Street

4. 3 Avenue & East 36 Street

5. Broadway & Spring Street

6. Delancey Street & Bowery

7. Delancey Street & Allen Street

8. 9 Avenue & West 207 Street

9. 10 Avenue & West 40 Street

10. West Side Highway (9A)/12 AV & West 51 Street

11. Broadway & Canal Street

12. Canal Street & Centre Street

13. Delancey Street & Essex Street

14. Hudson Street & Beach Street/Ericsson Place

15. 3 Avenue & East 57 Street

16. 3 Avenue & East 58 Street

17. 3 Avenue & East 59 Street

18. 3 Avenue & East 35 Street

19. 6 Avenue & Watts Street

20. 10 Avenue & West 41 Street

21. Broadway and Broome Street

22. Broadway and Chambers Street

23. Broadway & West 66 Street

24. Amsterdam Avenue & 181 Street

25. Canal Street & West Broadway

26. Hudson Street & Laight Street

27. Hudson Street & Vestry Street

Queens

28. Queens Boulevard & Skillman Avenue

29. Northern Boulevard & Queens Boulevard

30. Queens Boulevard & Roosevelt Avenue

31. Astoria Boulevard & 31 Street

32. 21 Street & 49 Avenue

33. Laurel Hill Boulevard & 65 Place

34. Queens Midtown Expressway *N S/R & Grand Avenue

35. Main Street & Roosevelt Avenue

36. 71 Avenue & Austin Street

37. 37 Avenue & 138 Street

38. Metropolitan Avenue & 60 Street

39. Queens Plaza South (SR) & 28 Street

The Bronx

40. 135 Street & Third Avenue

Brooklyn

41. Flatbush Avenue & 8 Avenue

42. Atlantic Avenue & Pennsylvania Avenue

43. 86 Street & 7 Avenue

44. Tillary Street & Jay Street

45. Flatbush Avenue & Myrtle Avenue

Staten Island

46. College of Staten Island & Victory Boulevard

47. Narrows Road South & Hylan Boulevard w/b @ Steuben Street

48. Narrows Road South & Hylan Boulevard

49. Narrows Road South & Fingerboard Road

50. Narrows Road North & Fingerboard Road

(Lead image: The city Department of Transportation has installed new signs like these at 50 intersections to deter drivers from blocking the crossings. Photo from NYC Department of Transportation/Flickr)