Traffic ban could lift Broadway

Theater community mostly open to idea

By GORDON COX

In an attempt to curb congestion in the theater district, the Broadway thoroughfare will soon become a walkway around Times Square.

NEW YORK -- A new city plan to close midtown sections of Broadway to vehicle traffic has those in the legit industry cautiously optimistic.

No one is certain how, or even if, the theater biz will be affected by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's plan, which would bar traffic on Broadway between West 47th Street and West 42nd Street, right in the heart of the theater district.

All acknowledge, though, that the area's severe congestion is a major problem, and something needs to be done to try to ease it.

"It's worth a try," said Tim Tompkins, prexy of business development org Times Square Alliance.

Broadway between those five blocks in the 40s (as well as a section of Herald Square, a few blocks south) will become a pedestrian promenade with benches and tables, while vehicular traffic still will be allowed on the cross-streets.

Billed as an experiment that will begin in May and last through the end of the year, the plan was announced Thursday. Legiters are open to it, but still have worries.

"We are concerned about the elderly, the disabled and the buses," said Charlotte St. Martin, exec director of the Broadway League, the trade association of legit producers and presenters.

There are no stage doors on Broadway itself, so at the moment, it appears the plan will not jeopardize the load-in and load-out of sets.

While making Times Square and Herald Square less of a hassle for pedestrians, the plan also aims to smooth vehicular traffic uptown on Sixth Avenue and downtown on Seventh.

If it works, legiters seem to be all for it.

Congestion in Times Square, particularly in the hour before curtain time at Broadway shows, is a well-known irritation in the city.

Tompkins said surveys indicate that 59% of tri-state residents cite too many people on the sidewalks as their major complaint about the area, as do 48% of tourists from further afield.

"Friends of mine who come to Times Square for theater tell me they're coming in spite of the experience of Times Square itself," Tomkins said. "In the long run, that's bad for business."