United Nations General Assembly Week Returns - East River Boat Traffic Between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan Closed and Intermittent Roosevelt Island Bridge Closings From September 18 - 26

Image of United Nations from Wired New York

Received the following notice from the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC):

Please see the attached notice from the Department of Transportation with regard to intermittent closures of the Roosevelt Island Bridge during the September UN General Assembly Sessions from Sunday, September 18th through Thursday, September 22nd between the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Sincerely,

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp Advisories Group

According to the NYC Department of Transportation:

United Nations General Assembly

From September 18 through September 26, the U.S. Coast Guard will close the main navigational channel of the East River between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island and divert all marine traffic to the Roosevelt Island Chanel between Roosevelt Island and Queens. To permit marine traffic to pass, the New York City Department of Transportation will close the Roosevelt Island Bridge, as needed, for up to 15 minutes between 7: 00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. to permit marine traffic to pass.
During the bridge closure, it will be closed to all vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle traffic. A Variable Message Board will inform the public of the closures and Traffic Enforcement Agents will assist in traffic control at Vernon Blvd and 36th Avenue. Emergency service providers have been informed of the special operational schedule.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Questions regarding the bridge closure may be addressed to Fred Herschkowitz, Community Liaison, at 212-839-6307 or fherschkowitz@dot.nyc.gov. For all NYC non-emergency services, including inquiries regarding NYCDOT projects, dial 311. Please be prepared to give your name, your borough, and the project number: HBM1117 to be correctly routed to the project management team.

This is an annual inconvenience for Roosevelt Island but sometimes it can be more than just an inconvenience. As reported in this post from last year, an ambulance rushing to treat a Roosevelt Island emergency was delayed because it had to wait on the Queens side of the Roosevelt Island Bridge while the Bridge was in the up position to allow for a passing sailboat:

Due to the United Nations General Assembly being in session, once again security precautions require East River boat traffic to use the East Channel when approaching Roosevelt Island. This forces the Roosevelt Island Bridge to be raised so that tall boats can pass underneath. When the Bridge gets raised, traffic is backed up and cannot enter or leave Roosevelt Island until the Bridge returns to it's normal position.

In most cases this is just a small inconvenience, but for emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire, and police vehicles servicing Roosevelt Island, it can be a real safety issue. This is an annual problem for Roosevelt Island during UN General Assembly week...

It turned out that in this instance the person the ambulance was called to treat was not effected by the delayed ambulance according to RIOC Public Safety Director Keith Guerra.