The "Crossroads of the World" are about to become wider and more pedestrian-friendly. The new plan has already been traffic-tested for more than two years using asphalt extensions and temporary bollards.

NEW YORK - Weidlinger Associates has been chosen by The NYC Department of Design and Construction to serve as prime consultant for a civil engineering reconstruction of all streets in the area between Broadway and Seventh Avenue from West 49th Street to West 41st Street. The Times Square area has recently been transformed into a family-friendly destination where increasing numbers of visitors compete for sidewalk space with native New Yorkers who work in nearby skyscrapers. Studies suggest that tourist traffic is still on the rise.

Weidlinger’s comprehensive site design will coordinate changes in the streetscape with existing conditions at and below street level. Curbs may move outward as much as nineteen feet in some locations. Catch basins, water mains, utilities, street lights, traffic signals, and signage must be made to accommodate. Utility relocation is a particular challenge, complicated by the shallow subway tunnel roofs for the N/R and IRT Seventh Avenue lines that are located directly beneath the site. Weidlinger engineers must also determine the appropriate elevations and sidewalk pitches to ensure proper drainage, relying on close coordination with designers of new construction. Street amenities are envisioned as part of the plan, but funds and space for them may be limited.

James Quinn, Weidlinger’s Project Manager, is consulting with design teams for the new TKTS building at Duffy Square being developed by the Times Square Alliance, and for the NYC Transit Authority’s new 42nd Street shuttle entrance on Broadway between West 42nd and 43rd Streets. Quinn is managing several other civil reconstructions of high-profile metropolitan area sites, including the 36-acre former Navy Homeport in Stapleton, Staten Island, slated for mixed-use development. “Times Square is different,” Mr. Quinn says. “It’s an icon not just for the city, but for the world.…It’s important to get it right and to try not to cause any major bottlenecks doing it. ”