Reading "The RIOC Column" by Stephen Shane, RIOC President, in this weekend's Main Street WIRE, I learned that the Roosevelt Island Tram will be off line for 8 days starting this June 10th. I don't know what is worse not being able to eat bread this Passover or learning this news. Maybe I should have have heard this news earlier but this was the first I learned of this stoppage.
As Mr. Shane indicates the work regarding the track rope adjustments is obviously necessary and will be an interesting test of how as a community we work through the temporary loss of the Tram in preparation for the 2009 stoppage when the system is overhauled and out of service. We appreciate the steps RIOC is taking to plan alternative methods of transportation and we just hope the MTA is kind to us on the weekends and nothing goes badly during the morning and evening rush hours.
In light of this stoppage I hope the Tranportation Committee of Community Board 8 is paying attention as to my knowledge the NYC Deprtament of Transportation, still to date, has never responded to CB8 regarding their April 2007 resolution calling for a study to look at access to the Queensboro Bridge from the Island. Now would be good time for someone to follow up on that resolution. I have asked CB8 to follow up but I am receiving from no responses to my repeated inquiries as to the status.
From Steve Shane (RIOC President): "The bridge was closed to traffic as scheduled at 12:30AM April 16 and reopened to traffic at 4:40 AM. Note that Pedestrians were allowed to cross the bridge at 3:45 AM. Emergency services (NYPD, NYFD and EMS) units were all on station and the Tram and Red Bus ran throughout the night during the closure. There were no reported incidents.
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