{"id":314215,"date":"2025-10-18T19:59:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/314215\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T19:59:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:59:32","slug":"trump-launches-latest-attack-on-nyc-with-federal-order-to-stop-work-on-34th-st-busway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/314215\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump launches latest attack on NYC with federal order to stop work on 34th St. busway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Midtown is the latest front in the Trump administration\u2019s apparent war on New York City\u2019s transit system, with federal regulators demanding the city halt work on the recently revived 34th St. busway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a Thursday letter to the New York City and State transportation departments, Federal Highway Administration head Sean McMaster directed the agencies to stop work on the project, which would restrict long stretches of the east-west thoroughfare to use by buses and cars going to local businesses<\/a> by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\u201cI demand you cease and desist all activities to implement the 34th Street busway project immediately, until a meeting occurs between NYCDOT, NYSDOT and FHWA to discuss the project and its implications,\u201d McMaster wrote, according to a copy of the letter provided to the Daily News.<\/p>\n

There is no federal money involved in the plan to redesign Manhattan\u2019s 34th St. and prioritize bus traffic.<\/p>\n

But, FHWA Division Administrator Richard Marquis argued in a September letter to state and local officials, the municipal street is a \u201cprincipal arterial [road]\u201d for the purposes of the National Highway System, and thus \u201cmust continue to serve the interstate and interregional travel and commerce needs for which the route is designed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[W]hile the busway proposal indicates trucks are allowed access on the busway, it is not clear if the busway can safely accommodate all commercial motor vehicle deliveries meeting the specified dimensions [in the relevant regulations],\u201d Marquis continued.<\/p>\n

As previously reported by The News, the city\u2019s plans for the 34th St. Busway are functionally equivalent to the 14th St. busway, which was approved during President Trump\u2019s first term and has been in place since 2019.<\/p>\n

But the midtown thoroughfare does appear on a map of National Highway System feeder roads<\/a> while 14th St. does not.<\/p>\n

Any continuation of work by the city\u2019s Department of Transportation, McMaster wrote, \u201cis unacceptable and puts at risk decisions regarding pending and future Federal-aid projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

If work continues, \u201cI will implement appropriate remedial actions,\u201d McMaster continued, including \u201cwithholding project authorizations and approvals, restricting the obligation of funding, limiting transfers, or other actions deemed necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the matter told The News that work had already started on the 34th St. busway last week. But a city DOT spokesman said Thursday that the work had now been paused while officials attempted to resolve the matter with the feds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of commuters in Midtown are traveling by transit and they deserve world-class, fast, and reliable buses,\u201d city DOT spokesman Vincent Barone said in a statement. \u201cThe redesign for 34th Street mirrors other street designs from across the city and allows for truck, private, and emergency vehicle access on every block.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that the design complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations, and we will work with the federal government to advance this critical project,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

FHWA\u2019s top-down stop-work order comes amid a slew of transportation funding and authorization battles between Gotham and the Trump regime.<\/p>\n

Most notably, the USDOT \u2014 the parent agency of the FHWA \u2014 announced two weeks ago that it was pausing all reimbursements on two major New York City projects<\/a>, the Second Avenue Subway extension and the Hudson River rail tunnel.<\/p>\n

Though both were described by USDOT officials as a procedural move in an effort to make \u201cimportant\u201d projects more efficient, President Trump this week claimed his administration had \u201cterminated\u201d funding to the Hudson River Tunnel because it was a priority of New York\u2019s senior Democratic senator, Chuck Schumer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MTA chairman Janno Lieber, whose agency runs the buses that would take advantage of a redesigned 34th St., told reporters on Friday that New York should be able to set its own transit policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already proven with the 14th Street busway that this is good for everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a little bizarre how much they want to get into the day-to-day traffic of New York,\u201d Lieber said of the feds \u2014 who have also tried to shut down the New York City congestion pricing toll. \u201cWhat are you going to have to apply to the Secretary of Transportation if you want to have a block party?\u201d Lieber quipped. \u201cIs the Secretary of DOT going to decide who gets to sell gyros at which location? I mean, it\u2019s enough already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 17, 2025 at 1:13 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Midtown is the latest front in the Trump administration\u2019s apparent war on New York City\u2019s transit system, with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":314216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,728,17259,405,403,8989,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,522,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-314215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-national-politics","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-politics","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-transportation","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115396946525662994","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}