Getting out of the city is never that difficult, as long as you leave early enough.  Getting back in, however, is a mess.  On my way back into the city today, I hit the gridlock at about 70th and the West Side Highway and it took me about an hour to make it to the East Village.  Admittedly, I'm not a native New Yorker, so I'm probably choosing the worst route home (usually the West Side Highway from the GWB, then crossing the island somewhere before Houston).

So, how do you guys get back into the city and avoid the traffic (and avoid overheating your aircooled monsters!)

Avoid arriving in the city during congestion hours.   

So on weekends, that eliminates the hours of 2pm to 9pm.  Sorry.

Also - carefully lane split.  You need to get air flowing around the engine.  Trust me...

Quote from: tommys67 on May 16, 2010, 04:33:55 PM
Avoid arriving in the city during congestion hours.
Also - carefully lane split.

+1 Lane splitting is about the only way.  Both the Westside Highway and FDR are terribly congested.  If you hit traffic on the Westside HWY in the afternoon, I bet it was due to the cruise ship loading.  I'd lane split between the inner-most lane and the middle lane.

FDR, which is no better and sometime worse, I take Exit 7 to 18th street to Ave A and the East Village.

How do cops view lane splitting?

like a free throw. +2points.


I commute daily into and out of.

Avoid traffic takes a lot of practice.

Depending on where you want to go. uptown downtown and what time.

IN the morning going uptown, FDR is the way to go and is pretty clear until 4pm. Your going to run into certain areas taht are congested where the 3 lanes become 2. such as 59th st. Once you clear that its good until 96th st (another 2 into 1) then clear again until you hit the split between GWB and Willis Ave bridge.

Going downtown, most of the time West side highway is your best bet. However FDR is clear from 12:30 to about 3pm. Then its traffic jam. After that point west side is quicker cause cars can get on and off it easy (its not a real highway obviously).

If you want to cut across downtown, houston  after the construction of the past few years is the way to do it. If local sts are locked down and hard to get pass, continue on west side ring around the tip of manhattan and go back up FDR, should only take 10 mins tops, and you will end up on the other side of houston, and that side is much less packed and lands you in alphabet city.

Midtown manahttan. theres no secret that cops dont like bikes here, youll get harassed and ticketed if your not 100% legal. As far as traffic goes, your SOL cause theres so many cops there, lane splitting is sometimes not possible. I avoid at all cost.

if you must take local routes, on the west side, 11th ave is quick. You could make it from 59th st to 23rd st in about 3 minutes on it due to the light pattern. Going up town, i have no suggestion.

on the east side, park ave is like a drag strip past midtown.

have fun these are my secrets to getting around the city quickly.

Quote from: positivecarry on May 17, 2010, 06:31:06 AM
How do cops view lane splitting?

I only lane split when the traffic is stand still and I always merge back into traffic when I see police.

eric on this forum just got a ticket for lane splitting...... he wasnt. there was an accident and cars were all just randomly merging into the other lanes, and a cop pulled him over for being between 2 cars.

its like shooting fish in a barrel out there for them

Great advice here, guys. Thanks

+1 to the lane splitting and avoiding those congestion times when possible.  West end/ 11th ave or 9th ave could help.