jjreisert@alum.mit.edu
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2017 15:15:01 -0700
Lisa W. Foderaro, *New York Times*, DEC. 24, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/24/nyregion/traffic-apps-gps-neighborhoods.html
LEONIA, N.J. — It is bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see, the kind
of soul-sucking traffic jam that afflicts highways the way bad food
afflicts rest stops.
Suddenly, a path to hope presents itself: An alternate route, your
smartphone suggests, can save time. Next thing you know, you're headed
down an exit ramp, blithely following directions into the residential
streets of some unsuspecting town, along with a slew of other frustrated
motorists.
Scenes like this are playing out across the country, not just in
traffic-choked regions of the Northeast. But one town has had enough.
With services like Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps suggesting shortcuts
for commuters through the narrow, hilly streets of Leonia, N.J., the
borough has decided to fight back against congestion that its leaders say
has reached crisis proportions.
In mid-January, the borough's police force will close 60 streets to all
drivers aside from residents and people employed in the borough during the
morning and afternoon rush periods, effectively taking most of the town
out of circulation for the popular traffic apps -- and for everyone else,
for that matter.