Construction Causing Terrible Traffic Congestion On New York City Streets

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City drivers want to know who approved this chaos as the streets are clogged with cars and construction.

CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported that when buildings go up in the city, traffic slows down.

Work on a site in Midtown claimed a lane on West 53rd Street where crosstown traffic is now squeezed into one lane.

"It's very bad. Here one lane moving all the way down," one motorist said.

On Eleventh Avenue, utility work in front of two high-rises under construction have cars lined up for as far as the eye can see.

Lanes closed to accommodate equipment and utility work leave some wondering who approved this mess.

"It's horrible, it's very horrible," one motorist said.

Transportation Department Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said that city agencies do coordinate with each other about construction and traffic.

"We communicate on a very regular basis. It's a big city, there's a lot going on, so to the extent that there are issues and problems we always want to hear about them," Trottenberg said.

After receiving building permits from the Department of Buildings, developers generally apply for street closure permits from the Transportation Department.

Acting Manhattan Transportation Commissioner Luis Sanchez said street closure permits are renewed about every 90 days and the department tries to keep the space and time needed for the closure to a minimum.

"Some resident say that system isn't working," Sanchez said. "We try to do the best, it's not perfect. We do go back from time to time -- we'll revise the permits. We'll revise the logistics plans, so it's really a work in progress."

There are 40,000 active building permits in the city right now.