It’s that time of year again for Roosevelt Island – the opening of the 2014 United Nations General Assembly Session
Image of United Nations Seen From Roosevelt Island via Wired New York
which means the diversion of all East River Traffic adjacent to Roosevelt Island to the East Channel Queens side for security precautions due to our proximity to the United Nations resulting in the intermittent closings of the Roosevelt Island Bridge.
According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp ( RIOC ):
The NYC Department of Transportations Division of Bridges has informed that from Monday, September 22nd until Friday, September 26th, the Roosevelt Island bridge will open on demand from 7 AM- 7 PM to accommodate river traffic during the UN General Assembly. Each opening should take about 8-12 minutes to be completed; expect intermittent traffic delays.
Five years ago, on September 23rd, I was in labor and on my way to St. Vincent’s where I ended up having an emergency cesarean. I spent an excruciating hour and 25 minutes in a car trying to get from the Octagon to the hospital. The bridge had just gone up and we found ourselves in a line of cars. My husband got out and ran to talk to someone…it felt like an eternity later, but the bridge lowered and we were allowed across. (In my haze, I didn’t notice if they only let us across, or allowed all the cars to go.) With all the street closings on the east side, the drive there was impossible. I can’t remember why we opted not to call an ambulance, but I have to wonder if that would have made much difference. The sea of cars everywhere we went was astounding. My daughter probably would not have been born in the car, given the fact that I ultimately needed a cesarean, but if I’d encountered any other complications in the course of that birth, I shudder to think what the outcome would have been.
