iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

How the hell did this driver go nearly half a kilometer up the viaduct before realizing they'd done something wrong and stopping

A screenshot of Google Maps from Mount Baker station in Seattle. The measure distance tool has been used to measure over 450m from the nearest grade crossing to the station platform

I wasn't able to get photos of the Vanderbilt result (I'll reply later when they post the deck), but respondents preferred plaza and transit blocks on Vanderbilt while results on Underhill were more mixed

2024 Underhill Outreach

61% of respondents selected a plaza block at least once, followed by one-way shared or slow street blocks (40%) and then two-way slock blocks (28%)

Plaza blocks were selected at the playground and Lowery Triangle, and one-way blocks were concentrated in the middle of the corridor

2024 Underhill Outreach

Survey responses ranged from asking for block specific designs while others want a simplified, consistent corridor design

Responses are displayed on two axes: from public space gains to maintain vehicular access and from block specific design to simplify corridor design

DOT does plan to consider bus priority through the plaza as they finalize design

Future considerations from initial feedback to consider bus priority on Flatbush Ave to extend the busway through Grand Army Plaza

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Recent outreach focused on the design of the expanded plaza space, and most respondents preferred designs with more tree cover and planting breaking up the space

Three plaza design concepts for GAP: radial plaza, diagonal grove, and open axis

Public survey results for the plaza concepts, with 40% of respondents preferring Open Axis and 36% preferring Diagonal Grove

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 02/06/2026

Traffic study results: very good for pedestrians, bikers, and bus riders! Most drivers see faster trips, though eastbound trips from Union to EP get a bit longer

Over 3k pedestrians in morning peak hour. Max waiting time at library crosswalk reduced from 120s to 85s. 42% increase in public space

766 bus riders in morning peak hour, and a 41% decrease in travel times through the plaza

350 cyclists in the morning peak hour, with many fewer waiting points

2831 vehicles in the morning peak hour. 38% of affected vehicle trips would see a 22% increase in travel times, and 62% of trips would see a 45% reduction in travel times

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I'm on a Zoom call for the Grand Army Plaza redesign. The project isn't funded yet, but they're almost done with preliminary planning/design and ready to move onto budgeting and full design soon

A map of the traffic study for the Grand Army Plaza redesign, plus associated projects in the neighborhood

Traffic study outcomes, and the process by which the GAP redesign will get budget and enter construction

Design updates for GAP since 2024, including improved bike lanes, shortened pedestrian crossings, and simplified intersections

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 13/04/2026

There's a lot to like about the new GAP design: * Connected ped. space * Plaza St bike lanes fixed * Direct Vanderbilt bike conn. * Raised crosswalks * Mid-plaza crosswalks * No more St John's 5-way int. What not to like: * No bus lanes * Still a couple of slip lanes * The timeline is too long

Side-by-side diagrams showing the current (left) and proposed (right) traffic layout of Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn

The current layout has a chaotic mess of traffic lanes. The new layout organized car traffic on either side of the plaza, connecting the pedestrian space between Prospect Park and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch. There are new protected bike lanes and shortened crosswalks around much of the plaza

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 27/03/2026

Received this lovely, bad-faith email from the Mayor of Del Mar after writing in support of the Crest Canyon alignment as a transit advocate. This is what they're dealing with, so please reach write to SANDAG in support!

Email from Terry Gaasterland, Mayor of Del Mar:

Perhaps you are unaware? The Crest Canyon tunnel would go underneath about 300 homes and require eminent domain destruction of another 50 for the north tunnel portal. The portal would be under and next door to another 30 homes.

There is an alternative that requires no taking of people's homes and requires no one to have a freight train running underneath their bedroom. The Northern Yellow Line alternative.

Why are you asking for Del Mar homes to be destroyed?

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 20/02/2026

This is a *really cool* proposal for Broadway from the Flatiron to Herald Square. Not only would it formalize the two-way bike lane and greatly widen the sidewalks, it would leave room for Paris-style outdoor dining up against the buildings!

Capital plan concept for Broadway between 21st St and 27th St, Manhattan

Capital plan concept for Broadway between 27th St and 33rd St, Manhattan

Potential layout of outdoor dining on a plaza block, including space for pedestrian and cyclist circulation

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 05/01/2026

Well, this is desperate of Delgado. Definitely not voting for him if he's going to harm the MTA's fiscal outlook xcancel.com/delgadoforny...

A tweet from Antonio Delgado (@DelgadoforNY):

New Yorkers deserve safety as the standard on every ride. Two-person crews on our subways aren't just common sense – they're essential.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 11/12/2025

Yep, it's in the "Bus Priority" section of this report: www.etany.org/alternatives...

A satellite view of the Manhattan approaches to the Lincoln Tunnel, showing how buses would reach the Port Authority Bus Tunnel if they had exclusive use of the center tube

William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 20/11/2025

I'M IN THE BACK OF THE BACK OF THE CLUB

A boy wearing headphones and yelling with his hand up

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 25/10/2025

One of my proudest moments on this site

Caltrain and 2 others reposted your post
"Electrification works, folks"

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 21/10/2025

Look at how much space there is between the Brooklyn Central Library and its sidewalk shed! There's no way a facade problem could harm someone on that sidewalk.

The side of a building with a lawn that's at least 20–30 feet wide. The sidewalk next to the lawn is blocked off with a temporary fence and sidewalk shed.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 05/09/2025

I've been suggesting this reroute to NYCT and @nyc-dot.bsky.social ever since they started the Brooklyn Bus Redesign. Glad to see it might happen! (source: www.nyc.gov/html/dot/dow...)

Potential reroute of the B69 bus in Brooklyn to prevent blocking the B41 on Flatbush Ave. Northbound B69 buses would turn right onto Park Pl, then left onto Vanderbilt Ave. Southbound B69 buses would turn right onto Sterling Pl, then left onto 7th Ave.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 28/08/2025

I'm visiting Naples right now, and I'm so confused about their transport network planning. Why do so few lines connect? Why are they making the Line 1 a loop? Why are they prioritizing the Intraflegrea when some of these lines run every 24 or 36 minutes?

A map of the integrated rail network in Naples. There are three metro lines (1, 6, and 11), four funiculars, some mainline rail lines, and a narrow gauge railway. Lines are connected haphazardly if at all. Some future extensions are drawn in dashed lines.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 14/08/2025

My guess is DOT asked them to maintain two travel lanes per direction. Separating the headhouses by a block means the travel lanes can slalom around the elevators. On the same block, they'd probably need to remove a travel lane. Here's their slide with potential vehicle lanes drawn on it:

Satellite view of 36th St and 4th Ave in Brooklyn, with diagrammatic drawings showing the subway platforms and planned elevators at 35th and 34th St. Blue lines show where driving lanes of 4th Ave might move to accommodate the elevators.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 12/08/2025

I'm basing my assumptions off this diagram, which shows very little (seemingly no) wiggle room if you wanted to somehow extend the City Hall R/W south into a new tunnel that doesn't block PATH-Lex.

A diagram of subway tracks near Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan, with a new connection from PATH to the 6 train also shown. There's an inset with the depths of each existing line showing how the connection might snake between them.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 25/07/2025

Not necessarily, if the station is under Mission St (two options pictured below) and it connects with Link21 somewhere east of Transbay. But I'm personally ambivalent about mode because, while easier to connect to the East Bay using existing plans, mainline rail would require much longer platforms

Two options connecting a Geary Subway to the Transbay Terminal. One option runs via Post and 2nd, and the other runs via Geary and Annie. Both options have a station at 1st and Market. The Post option has a BART transfer at Montgomery.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 24/07/2025

It's ~850ft from Stockton to Kearny, which could be enough for the Geary tunnels to dive down. Other idea: a diagonal station under the square for the Central Subway transfer and another station at Montgomery for the Market transfer. Would be very close together but the grades would be easier

Map of downtown SF with a purple line showing the potential route of a Geary subway

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 17/06/2025

I can see that the PA-analyzed route would conflict with the sewer, but what about a portal that took over the northbound half of 81st St? It's a very wide road, and it's seemingly fully west of the sewer

Transit "crayon" of a potential routing for an N/W train extension to LaGuardia Airport

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 06/06/2025

It's harder to schedule the 2/5 each to dedicated terminal tracks than the 2/3 to whatever track is available at the moment. That, plus a faster switch north of Brooklyn College, plus eventually CBTC, almost doubles capacity based on NYCT simluations (source: archive.org/details/irt-...)

Excerpt from the IRT Capacity Study showing that the current terminal capacity of Flatbush Ave - Brooklyn College station is 18 trains per hour with existing signals and a dedicated platform each for 2 and 5 trains. With services using either platform, a new crossover, and CBTC, capacity is nearly doubled to 34 trains per hour

William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 19/05/2025

This is great campaigning, made possible by RCV!

ActBlue: Thank you for your one-time contribution to Adrienne for the People!

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 25/04/2025

I think he misread the rendering. This clearly shows 33rd St demapped, not cantilevered over. The Hotel Pennsylvania lot is 400ft deep, and the current arena is 410ft in diameter (according to a source @progwml6.bsky.social found)

Rendering of a "Grand Penn" plan for a relocated MSG east of Seventh Avenue

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 03/04/2025

I'm reading this, and it's really, really good. (Of course it's good, Nolan put his heart and soul into it.) Solid principles, lots of detail, and realistic cost estimates from other US/UK projects. Fully accessible, electric trains can be 13-29% faster!

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 05/01/2025

It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here 🥹

A screenshot from the MTA app that says "Congestion pricing is in effect"

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 05/01/2025

New York's hottest club is the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and East 60th Street!

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 04/12/2024

I am not messing around with my decade-long Charli XCX obsession

My Spotify Wrapped, which shows that I'm in the top 0.001% of Charli XCX listeners

William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 02/12/2024

Back when I lived in Boston, the "Daily Game of 'Big City'" was my favorite Onion article. Now it's the De Blasio one:

A screenshot from the Onion, with a photo of former NYC mayor Bill De Blasio and the headline: "De Blasio: 'Well, Well, Well, Not So Easy To Find A Mayor That Doesn't Suck Shit, Huh?'"

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 30/11/2024

If we're proposing crazy crayons, you could separate the Orange Line as part of an I-980 removal that also offers a transfer to RR at Jack London

BART train extension "crayon" in Downtown Oakland along what is currently I-980, with a curve east to Jack London Square and meeting back up with the existing lines further east

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 04/11/2024

I've seen the new overnight and weekend maps before, but this is the first time I've seen the new weekday map on a digital display. I guess they're (finally) rolling it out more!

A new NYC subway diagram on a digital display in a subway station

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 21/10/2024

This is a really good article, and for me it all comes down to this image. For the space and money used up by a parking spot, a developer could add an extra studio apartment. Why should we mandate parking when we need housing so badly?

Diagrams showing the space required per car in a self-parking lot (350 sqft) and per small studio apartment (400 sqft)

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 17/10/2024

Americans over the last two weeks since the VP debate

Mr Krabs golfing meme with the caption, "Wait a minute, I hate JD Vance"

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 26/09/2024

Who's going to be the next mayor of NYC? Wrong answers only.

Aquaria, the drag queen, wearing a green chiffon dress and black gloves. She has her hand up in claws like Lady Gaga, and she is standing on a boat with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 04/06/2024

Well that's not something you see every day

NYC N train reroute notice, with the reasoning, "We're working to remove a shopping cart from the tracks near 53rd St."

William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 18/04/2024

The temporary structure enclosing the elevator under construction at 14th and 6th is hilariously shaped like a little house.

Through a chain link fence at a street corner in Manhattan, we can see the entire sidewalk torn up to build an elevator to the subway mezzanine. The site of the future elevator is surrounded by a temporary plywood structure with a gabled roof.

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 18/04/2024

This was fun to fill out! I clearly need to stay on the 6 for the City Hall loop some time. I've only taken the Q to Coney Island, and I forget if I've taken a 2 on the East Side, though I've definitely taken a 5 on the West Side.

NYC Subway bingo, filled in. I've done 18 of the 24 squares, with bingo in the top row and the third column. I haven't taken the Train to the Game, been on all 4 lines to Coney Island, been on a 2 via the East Side, been on a 9, Brown M, or V train, stayed on the 6 train to see the City Hall loop, or been to the South Ferry loops.

Empty NYC Subway bingo board with 24 things that a subway rider might do or experience

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 29/08/2023

But I heard that, according to people who live in Oregon, trains come every two minutes in New York, and we have nothing to complain about!

The countdown clock at the Grand Army Plaza subway station in Brooklyn shows a 14-minute wait until the next Manhattan-bound train at rush hour

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William Meehan @meehan.nyc · 07/07/2023

Every Open Street needs a cover band!

A cover band plays classic American rock in Piazza del Popolo in Sacile, Pordenone. The street is pedestrian-only for Friday nights in July and is currently full of people.