NYC Adds 'Gridlock Alert Days' To Warn Drivers Off Roads

NEW YORK — Anyone who dares to drive in Midtown Manhattan while the United Nations meets this month should be prepared to spend three times as long on the road. That's the message the city Department of Transportation aims to send by adding new "gridlock alert days" this year.

The city launched a $500,000 multimedia campaign on Tuesday urging New Yorkers to get out of their cars during the U.N. General Assembly from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, when central Manhattan traffic moves at the slowest pace of the entire year.

Officials are also promoting discounts on Citi Bikes, shared car trips and outer-borough parking to keep more drivers out of the city's core on those busy weekdays, the DOT said.

"The U.N. General Assembly creates some of Manhattan’s most congested days of the entire year, so we are asking drivers who can to leave their cars at home – and to walk, bike or take the train," Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement.

The six weekdays of the U.N. meeting will augment the 10 usual gridlock alerts in effect around the November and December holidays, the DOT said.

New York City has hosted the international body for more than 70 years. But the congestion its meeting created last year slowed traffic in Manhattan's central business district to an average speed of just 3 MPH, officials said, meaning it took up to 20 minutes to travel a mile. That's less than half the typical average speed of about 7 MPH.

Digital and radio ads will warn drivers just how much longer their trips could take during U.N. week and urge them to travel by alternate modes, the DOT said. The city will also spread the message on highway signs, at Staten Island Ferry terminals and on social media, the department said.

To sweeten the deal, Citi Bike, the city's bike-share service, is offering three days of unlimited 30-minute rides during the General Assembly for $12, the same price as a one-day pass.

The ride-sharing app Via — a competitor of Uber and Lyft — will offer discounts for shared rides in Manhattan, and Citi Field in Queens will charge just $5 to park in lots near the 7 train.

"The multi-pronged approach, including ads, will pay off with tens of thousands of people not getting caught in the Midtown slog," Sam Schwartz, the DOT's former traffic commissioner who created gridlock alert days, said in a statement.

(Lead image: The United Nations headquarters is pictured in New York City in 2003. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)