New York, NY – What A Disgrace, Congestion Pricing? Open up The Streets To Add Routes.

New York, NY – Cheaper than renting an apartment or even a storage unit in Manhattan is leasing one of the city’s scarcest resources — a street.

Even as Mayor Bloomberg seeks to reduce traffic in the city by charging drivers to use the most crowded thoroughfares, the city is issuing more than 200,000 permits a year to close traffic lanes and is charging developers as little as $50 for three months of road use, according to data provided by the Department of Transportation.

A citywide construction boom in the last few years has required many lanes to be closed for months and even years at a time. Closed streets are a nuisance to both drivers, who must endure increased traffic, and to local residents, who are often forced to navigate makeshift sidewalks.

In parts of Midtown Manhattan with the worst congestion, such as the area around Times Square, developers are charged no more to take over lanes than for construction sites in the outer reaches of Queens. The Durst Organization, which is erecting a $1 billion office tower for the Bank of America near Bryant Park, has for three years closed the south side of 43rd Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, the curb lane on Sixth Avenue near the park, and segments of three sidewalks. During off-peak hours, it has also taken over some traffic lanes on 42nd Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. These traffic lanes and sidewalks are likely to be closed through 2008, when the project is scheduled for completion. [NYsun]