Parade Closure and the Collision Call
You are on foot at the northeast corner of 8th Avenue and West 24th Street, facing north. A radio call reports a two-car collision at 7th Avenue and West 26th Street. The area is a one-way grid: 8th Avenue runs northbound; 7th Avenue runs southbound; West 24th Street runs eastbound; West 25th Street runs westbound; West 26th Street runs eastbound; West 27th Street runs westbound; 6th Avenue runs northbound. Each block along an avenue (between numbered streets) is 0.05 mile; each block between avenues (east-west) is 0.20 mile. Your walking speed is 3 miles per hour. A parade has closed 8th Avenue to all traffic north of West 24th Street, so you cannot walk north on 8th Avenue past your corner. You have a radio and a map, but no vehicle. The dispatcher asks for your route and estimated arrival time.
1. Give the shortest lawful walking route from your corner to 7th Avenue and West 26th Street under the parade closure. Explain each turn and why it is lawful.
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Walk east on West 24th Street from 8th Avenue to 7th Avenue (one east-west block, 0.20 mile). Then walk north on 7th Avenue from West 24th to West 26th (two north-south blocks, 0.10 mile). Total 0.30 mile. This is lawful because one-way restrictions regulate vehicles, not pedestrians; walking north on the southbound side of 7th Avenue is not a pedestrian violation. The parade closure blocks 8th Avenue north of 24th, so I would not use 8th. At 3 mph, 0.30 mile takes 0.10 hour, or 6 minutes.
2. If you were driving a marked vehicle instead of walking, would the same route be lawful? Explain the difference.
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No. In a vehicle, 7th Avenue is southbound, so driving north on it would violate the one-way rule. A lawful driving route would be: east on West 24th to 6th Avenue (0.40 mile), north on 6th Avenue to West 27th Street (0.15 mile), west on West 27th to 7th Avenue (0.20 mile), then south on 7th Avenue to West 26th (0.05 mile). Total 0.80 mile. At 20 mph, 0.80 mile is 0.04 hour, or 2.4 minutes, plus any traffic delay. This shows why the mode of travel changes the legal route even when the destination is the same.
3. A parade marshal tells you that no pedestrian may cross 7th Avenue at West 24th Street. What is your next step, and what is the new distance?
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I would ask the marshal for the nearest open crossing and then revise the route. A lawful walking alternative is to continue east on West 24th from 8th to 6th Avenue (0.40 mile), walk north on 6th Avenue from West 24th to West 26th (0.10 mile), and walk east on West 26th from 6th to 7th Avenue (0.20 mile). Total 0.70 mile, or about 14 minutes at 3 mph. The reasoning is that pedestrian one-way rules do not apply, but a parade marshal's safety closure can still block a crossing. I would report the revised route and time to the dispatcher rather than argue about access.