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Councilman Wants To Reverse Traffic On West 56th Street To Alleviate Trump Tower Congestion

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A councilman has proposed a plan to solve the traffic nightmare near Trump Tower, and he wants to literately take things in a different direction.

West 56th Street between 5th and 6th avenues has been putting delivery drivers' skills to the test, CBS2's Tracee Carrasco reported.

"I have to probably make a U-turn and go back, because I see a lot of cars heading this way, but I see that there's cones that way," Jorge Garcia said.

With Trump Tower around the corner, the street has been closed to traffic since the election.

There's a police command set up with cones, barricades and NYPD officers stationed at each end of the block. So drivers making deliveries to the dozens of businesses make difficult U-turns or attempt to back all the way down the street.

Even the emergency vehicles have no other option, and many say the closure is adding to what was already a traffic nightmare.

Derek Walsh, the owner of Judge Roy Bean Public House, said the mess has hurt business at his bar.

"Everything is open on the block, but a lot of people walking by, they're afraid to walk past the bomb squad, and the command post and the barricades," he said.

But Midtown Manhattan Council Member Dan Garodnick thinks he has a solution.

"Change the direction of the street, move traffic westbound on 56th Street, and allow for taxis and deliveries and garbage trucks to move on that block more freely," he proposed.

Traffic on 56th Street now travels eastbound, but Garodnick is asking Mayor Bill de Blasio to temporarily switch that between 5th and 6th avenues.

"I think it definitely would help, in fact it is the only thing that will really allow these businesses to survive," he said.

De Blasio's press secretary told CBS2 the city is taking an aggressive multi-fronted approach to combat congestion in Midtown and will look at every new proposal that is presented.

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