Greenfield Proposes HOV Lane For Prospect Expressway Entrance

The Prospect Expressway is quite a ways out of our coverage area, but a proposal from local Councilman David Greenfield seeks to ease the commute for those who use the roadway to connect to the Brooklyn – Queens Expressway.

Here’s the press release, in which Greenfield announces that he’s asked the State Department of Transportation to study creating an HOV lane on the Prospect Expressway, from Church Avenue until its connection with the BQE”

In response to one of the biggest sources of frustration for local drivers – constant traffic delays and long travel times while heading towards Manhattan – Councilman David G. Greenfield has asked the state to install High Occupancy Vehicle lanes along the Prospect Expressway. High Occupancy Vehicle lanes are designated solely for vehicles with passengers, as well as buses, motorcycles, emergency vehicles and taxis in order to provide much faster travel times with less gridlock and traffic backups.  Currently, there are HOV lanes once you reach the Gowanus Expressway. However, for many drivers, the slowest portion of the trip is the two-mile stretch from where Ocean Parkway becomes the Prospect Expressway north of Church Avenue to its merger with the Gowanus Expressway at Third Avenue.

With that in mind, Councilman Greenfield wrote to New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald to ask the agency to investigate the possibility of installing HOV lanes at the entrance of the Prospect Expressway, which is a state roadway. In his letter, he noted that doing so would greatly improve the commute for thousands of drivers each day who are trying to reach the Gowanus Expressway from Boro Park, Midwood, Kensington and many other neighborhoods across central and southern Brooklyn.

“I know that many Brooklyn residents dread the thought of having to sit in traffic along the Prospect Expressway each morning and afternoon. This is a simple and cost-effective solution that will drastically improve traffic flow, saving thousands of New Yorkers a lot of time and frustration. I plan to work with the state and city agencies on this and other ways to improve travel times along the Prospect Expressway and other important thoroughfares,” said Councilman Greenfield.

The city currently has HOV lanes at four locations around the five boroughs: the Manhattan Bridge, the Long Island Expressway leading to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, the Manhattan-bound Queensboro Bridge and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel approach on the Gowanus Expressway. Each set of HOV lanes are in effect at certain times and have different requirements regarding how many passengers are needed to utilize the lanes.

What do you think of the proposal? Will it help your commute?