Grand Army Plaza's Mystery Lane Turned Into Parking

For over a year, Grand Army Plaza had a lane that mystified people on a daily basis. An unaware driver heading to Vanderbilt Avenue would follow the sign to the righthand lane, drive a few hundred yards and be dumped back onto the main drag.  

Last year Patch asked the Department of Transportation the point of the lane, and they explained that the lane was was added during the overhaul of Grand Army Plaza for special parking needs, such as for Farmers Market vendors to park on Saturdays. For anyone else it had no purpose.

This fall, the DOT scrapped the lane, saying people were too often mistakenly using it as a "passing lane." (Maybe the confusing signage had something to do with it ...)

They replaced it with a rough white surface for extra pedestrian space and about a dozen parking spots. The spots are reserved for Farmer's Market trucks on Saturdays, but open to everyone else the rest of the week. 

Have a question for the MTA or DOT? Let us know in the comments and it could be the subject of another post.