![\"Work](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_0698-Work-Halted-W34th-St.jpg\")
the M34 bus passes by a work site on W34th Street on Friday evening. Photo: Phil O\u2019Brien<\/p>\nWork on the long-awaited 34th Street busway ground to a halt on Friday, after President Trump\u2019s administration ordered New York City to pause construction or risk losing vital federal funding for other transit projects. The federal intervention has triggered an outpouring of frustration from local leaders, transit advocates and everyday riders who had championed the plan as a lynchpin for a fairer, more sustainable Midtown.\u200b<\/p>\n
the M34 bus passes by a work site on W34th Street on Friday evening. Photo: Phil O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n
Councilmember Erik Bottcher, who helped usher the busway through City Council<\/a> as part of the landmark Midtown South Mixed-Use (MSMX) rezoning, called the Trump administration\u2019s move \u201ca slap in the face to every New Yorker who depends on public transit.\u201d For Bottcher, the busway was a symbol of New York\u2019s commitment to affordability, sustainability, and public safety. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just about buses. It was about building a more efficient, sustainable city where working people can get to their jobs faster and our streets are safer and cleaner. To see it derailed by political interference from Washington is unacceptable,\u201d he said.\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal took an even sharper tone during Friday evening\u2019s hastily organized \u201cEmergency Rally for Faster Buses\u201d at W34th and Broadway. \u201cIt\u2019s crap. We sure as hell are getting our bus way,\u201d Hoylman-Sigal declared to the crowd gathered by Transportation Alternatives and the Riders Alliance. \u201cWho could believe that the federal government would spend so much time and energy on a local street? Let\u2019s be clear, we understand that Donald Trump says it\u2019s his way or the highway, but news flash, Donald Trump, this is not a highway. This is 34th Street.\u201d<\/p>\n Assemblymember Tony Simone also slammed the Trump administration\u2019s move, highlighting its hypocrisy. \u201cThe leader of the so-called party of states\u2019 rights has once again shown the hypocrite he is,\u201d Simone wrote. \u201cThe busway was about to speed up commutes for over 28,000 working class New Yorkers who spend far too long stuck in unnecessary gridlock. The busway, paired with the Midtown South Mixed-Use rezoning, was poised to further tackle the housing crisis and get people moving. This Trump pause is further proof he has no interest in making working people\u2019s lives better \u2014 his goal is to bestow favors to his oligarch cronies at the expense of everyone else. To Donald Trump, stay in your lane, not the 34th Street Busway!\u201d<\/p>\n The halt arrived via a sharply worded letter from Federal Highway Administration administrator Sean McMaster, threatening to withhold federal funds for other city projects unless work on the busway stopped immediately, citing concerns about truck access and alleged a lack of coordination between city and state transit agencies \u2014 claims city officials strongly dispute. The city\u2019s plan would restrict private vehicles from 34th Street between 9th and 3rd Avenues, prioritizing M34 and M34A Select Bus Service and mirroring the successful 14th Street busway, where bus speeds jumped more than 24 percent and crashes fell by 42 percent. For Hell\u2019s Kitchen residents, the project promised faster commutes, cleaner air, and a reliable transit backbone.\u200b<\/p>\n Transit advocates were quick to voice outrage and the city\u2019s Department of Transportation pushed back, with spokesperson Vin Barone asserting that the plan \u201cmirrors other street designs from across the city and allows for truck, private, and emergency vehicle access on every block.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n Many see the Trump administration\u2019s action as part of a broader pattern of political interference in New York infrastructure. Just two days earlier, President Trump declared he would \u201cterminate\u201d federal funding for the Gateway Project<\/a> \u2014 the $16 billion effort to build the first new Hudson River train tunnels in over a century. If carried out, the move would halt construction on both sides of the river and strand multiple active sites.\u200b<\/p>\n![\"Brad](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_0705-Brad-Hoylman-Sigal-W34th-St.jpg\")
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal at Friday evening\u2019s hastily organized \u201cEmergency Rally for Faster Buses\u201d. Photo: Riders Alliance<\/p>\n