Fact: more traffic congestion in NYC than ever

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Never before in New York City has there been more traffic-related congestion and delays than currently due to a combination of an unprecedented number of vehicles on the road along with construction projects and repair work on bridges and tunnels.

That's the consensus from many New Yorkers and from former New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Lucius Riccio and AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair.

"There are several different traffic problems in New York City," said Riccio. "One is the Manhattan congestion, the other is the portals or bridges. And the outer-boroughs and the fact that those are more car-centric areas. There are more cars, more construction and this stuff seems to all be happening at the same time."

"Over the past five years there has been an additional 100,000 vehicles registered in the City of New York," said Sinclair. "In addition, we have work going on at the major crossings. The tunnels are being revamped. They're doing lane revisions and paving and they're putting the gantries in for cash-less tolling."

While most of the work is being done overnight and on the weekends, it's impact is felt especially during weekdays.

"In order for the facilities to stay in shape, you have to do the work," said Sinclair.

"Congestion is because we have a certain fixed amount of traffic lanes and if you add more vehicles, you're at capacity. On the other hand, we have an unsustainable situation with these car services like Uber, Via, Lyft. We have a regulated yellow system, why are we allowing all these other vehicles to come in?" said Riccio.

Drivers it seems will just have to deal.

"In the long term we need to be improving mass transit. We should be expanding our bus system and dedicating more lanes to mass transit and getting away from more cars," said Riccio.

"We would have half the trucks coming into New York City from New Jersey if we had a dedicated freight tunnel," said Sinclair.

In the meantime, Riccio and Sinclair agree the only way to handle the traffic and congestion is "to have patience."