The Art of Summer
The Contrapuntal Sounds of Gridlock
By JON PARELES
Published: August 9, 2011
A red-white-and-blue sign at the corner of West Broadway and Watts Street in SoHo reads, “Don’t Honk — $350 Penalty.” It is, shall we say, not always heeded. This corner is a five-way crossing, where Broome Street forks into Watts, which leads to the Holland Tunnel, and crosses West Broadway, which has two-way traffic. The tunnel entrances themselves run smoothly, if slowly; traffic police officers are there. But the New Jersey exodus has to back up somewhere, and this corner is one of those places. Amid this gridlock is a whole lot of self-expression via car horns and the occasional, ah, verbal admonition.
