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Q&A
McGinnis Boulevard redesign and its impact on emergency vehicle access
1:49:17
ยท
3 min
Council Member Lincoln Restler inquires about the recent redesign of McGinnis Boulevard, which includes wider bike lanes that can accommodate emergency vehicles. He asks if this design could be a better approach for ensuring quick emergency response times while also providing protected bike lanes.
- Commissioner Robert Tucker expresses a preference for keeping emergency vehicles on the streets and only using bike lanes in major emergencies.
- The FDNY works closely with the Department of Transportation to ensure fire and EMS apparatus can navigate city streets effectively.
- Tucker mentions that the FDNY has made accommodations in complicated neighborhoods, such as using rear tiller-mounted fire trucks for better maneuverability.
Lincoln Restler
1:49:17
I really appreciate it.
1:49:18
I think it's I don't mean to harp too much on a single incident, but it worries people when they call in, they call out incident, FDNY comes, investigates, We think everything's okay, and then five days later we have a tragedy.
1:49:33
And then we don't get answers for four months to understand what occurred.
1:49:38
I get that these issues are complex.
1:49:39
I get we have aging infrastructure, but there's got to be a way for us to improve communication and be able to, because I look like an idiot as the council member when people keep asking me what happened, we need information.
1:49:50
I don't like that.
1:49:51
I don't like that we don't get any information when we request it repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly.
1:49:56
Okay.
1:49:57
Just a couple other items I wanted to ask about.
1:50:01
Recently we redesigned McGinnis Boulevard.
1:50:03
This is a tertiary issue of import to the fire department, but I think it's an important one.
1:50:09
Recently we redesigned McGinnis Boulevard with the Department of Transportation.
1:50:13
As many of you may know, it was a big fight over a couple of years.
1:50:19
We were able to design much wider bike lanes than have historically been utilized around the city of New York that can accommodate EMS, ambulances, even fire trucks as far as I understand.
1:50:34
Is this a design that I'm not sure who the right person to answer this to direct this question to, that's you, Commissioner, or someone else.
1:50:39
Is this a design you all are familiar with?
1:50:40
Do you think that it's a better potential approach that can help ensure expeditious emergency response times as we look to accommodate safe cycling with protected bike lanes in more and more neighborhoods around the city?
Robert Tucker
1:50:59
Look, from where I stand, and it's more Chief Esposito comment, I would like to keep our emergency apparatus on the streets and where absolute only in the event of a major emergency invade the secured space for bicycles and other e mobility transportation.
1:51:30
It sort of reminds me of a thought that I was having about years ago the question could be asked can you drive on the sidewalks?
1:51:39
And the answer is no, not unless there was a really major emergency or reason to do so.
1:51:50
We work with DOT very effectively, and Commissioner Rodriguez and I speak regularly.
1:51:59
And I know my staff and his staff speak regularly.
1:52:04
What's important to me and we have through our city planning units and other units within the fire department, the ability to make sure that our fire and EMS apparatus can get down the streets.
1:52:19
We don't want anything to impede that.
1:52:24
And there are some complicated neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan for example, in Greenwich Village, in Brooklyn Heights for sure that make it sometimes more complicated.
1:52:36
And we've made accommodations including rear tiller mounted fire trucks with someone in the back steering the back of the fire truck.
1:52:47
But I don't know that we need necessarily to be more involved in that process than we already are.