Published: August 27, 2009

The 100 block of West 60th St., located between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues and home to both Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC)’s residential and academic buildings, is now a two-way passage. With the completion of nearly seven years of construction on the street, the passageway opened to two-way traffic on Monday, June 15, a change that will impact how students move into McMahon Hall this year.

The block had been restricted to east-bound traffic only since 2002. According to a 2002 article published in the New York Observer, the obstruction was due to city-organized construction on an underground water tunnel, designed to protect the city from a failure in older water tunnels throughout. New York. Amsterdam Avenue and 60th St. is the site of a major shaft, which is designed to bring the water from beneath the bedrock to the surface, providing one of the city’s “most populated” neighborhoods with clean water.

The re-opening of 60th St. as a two-way road means both increased convenience and safety to Fordham students, according to Leslie Timoney, McMahon Hall facilities manager.

“Since 60th St. is two ways, it is accessible from both [Columbus and Amsterdam] avenues, which is very convenient,” Timoney said.  “It is also so much safer now with the sidewalk re-opened.”

Kieran Croke, associate director of security at FCLC, said that upon completion of the construction, the city “has installed a new sidewalk and has repaved the section of the street.”

The new traffic pattern was thought by many to have a major impact on university functions, most notably move-in day and orientation. Keith Eldredge, dean of students at FCLC, said that the only change on move-in day that students will see will be the direction of traffic.

“We are asking students to travel west on 60th St. from Columbus Avenue instead of East bound from Amsterdam Avenue,” Eldredge said. “Security is working with the NYPD as always to arrange for people to park on 60th St. to quickly unload.”

“As in years past, Fordham requests permission from the NYPD and the Department of Traffic to permit families moving their son/daughters into McMahon Hall to angle park along both sides of West 60th St.,” Croke said. “The Security Department will have extra guards assigned to the street on those days to assist with parking and controlling traffic flow, being supervised by the on duty Security Supervisor.”

The New Student Orientation (NSO) committee has released a newsletter for parents and students detailing the new pattern of traffic for move-in, which can be found on Fordham.edu’s Lincoln Center Leadership page.