Former New York City Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz, Aka 'Gridlock Sam,' Joins NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn on Latest Episode of Curb Enthusiasm Podcast

Press Releases

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2026
Contact: (212) 839-4850, [email protected]

Former New York City Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz, Aka 'Gridlock Sam,' Joins NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn on Latest Episode of Curb Enthusiasm Podcast

The conversation features discussion about the City's first and shortest-lived on-street protected bike lane, the history of congestion pricing, autonomous vehicles, and managing on-street parking

NEW YORK - New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Mike Flynn today announced the release of the latest episode of the agency's Curb Enthusiasm podcast. The episode features a conversation with former New York City Traffic Commissioner and renowned traffic engineer Sam "Gridlock Sam" Schwartz. The conversation includes discussion of the city's first and shortest-lived on-street protected bike lane, the history of congestion pricing, autonomous vehicles, and managing on-street parking. Schwartz's renowned career includes serving as the city's Department of Traffic Commissioner. The episode is co-hosted by Commissioner Flynn, who regards Schwartz as a mentor and friend. This is the second episode in which listener questions, solicited via social media prior to the taping, are answered by the guest.

"It was a great honor to co-host this episode featuring mentor, friend, and transportation legend Sam 'Gridlock Sam' Schwartz," said NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn. "His reflections on the city's first on-street protected bike lane and earlier attempts at instituting congestion pricing to his thoughts on the future of transportation make this episode a very timely listen."

The discussion starts off with Schwartz explaining that the name "Gridlock Sam" came out of creating a plan during the Koch Administration to deal with the midtown street grid locking up during the 1980 transit strike. Titled the Grid Lock Prevention Plan, it would lead to the name "doctor of gridlock" and eventually "Gridlock Sam."

The co-hosts also ask Schwartz to recount the story about NYC's first and short-lived on-street protected bike lane built soon after the 1980 transit strike. The lanes extended from Washington Square Park to Central Park, along Sixth Avenue in the northbound direction and a combination of Seventh Avenue/Broadway/Fifth Avenue riding southbound. After the lanes' completion in 1980, their existence was doomed after Mayor Ed Koch ordered them removed. Koch had ridden in a presidential motorcade up Sixth Avenue with President Jimmy Carter and Governor Hugh Carey - where the governor had loudly complained to the president about them.

On the topic of congestion pricing, the discussion turns to the four East River bridges being tolled up until 1911, and a plan for tolling being approved in 1973 but killed when the mayoralty transitioned from John Lindsay to Abe Beame. Passionate about reducing traffic throughout his career, Schwartz advocated for congestion pricing for 55 years.

In the question-and-answer segment, Commissioner Flynn asks Schwartz reader-submitted questions focusing on his assessments of roundabouts vs. standard intersections, and what New York City would look like with more parking removal, which Commissioner Flynn turns into a broader question about parking, eliciting a lively and history-laden response from Schwartz.

The Curb Enthusiasm podcast focuses on issues at the local, national, and international level and features guests who discuss the most consequential transportation work happening all over the globe.

The episode is co-hosted by Emily Weidenhof, assistant commissioner of public realm at NYC DOT, and Mike Flynn, NYC DOT's commissioner.

Curb Enthusiasm is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and other major streaming platforms. More information is available at nyc.gov/CurbEnthusiasm.

About Sam Schwartz

Schwartz, a Brooklyn native, first began his transportation career as a New York City cabdriver, and in 1971 joined the New York City Traffic Department as a junior engineer, eventually becoming New York City's Traffic Commissioner, and then NYC DOT's First Deputy Commissioner and the Chief Engineer when the agency absorbed the traffic department in 1986. After leaving city service, Schwartz founded Sam Schwartz Engineering and Sam Schwartz Pedestrian Traffic Management Services, and wrote a column for the New York Daily News entitled "Gridlock Sam."

Schwartz has authored several books and served as an adjunct professor for over 40 years at some of New York City's most respected colleges and universities, including Cooper Union, Long Island University, Hunter College and Brooklyn College. In 2025, Schwartz generously donated $1 million to Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute to create a program for transportation research.

Schwartz is active in community affairs and helped found two New York City public schools: The School for the Physical City and the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School.

Schwartz received a bachelor's degree in physics from Brooklyn College and a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

About Emily Weidenhof, Episode Co-Host

Emily Weidenhof is assistant commissioner of public realm at NYC DOT. She works closely with community organizations throughout the five boroughs to transform their streets as public space. For over a decade, she has focused on strengthening communities through the creation of plazas and shared streets and retooling the curb lane for innovative programming. She's also played an integral role in NYC DOT's Broadway Vision Plan, which employs a range of tools to reimagine the famed Manhattan corridor from Union Square to Columbus Circle, which now prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists. Weidenhof has worked as an architect and urban designer in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, including at the NYC Department of City Planning.

She received her bachelor's degree in architecture from Pennsylvania State University and her master's degree in architecture and urban design from Columbia University.

About Mike Flynn, NYC DOT Commissioner and Episode Co-Host

Mike Flynn is the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Flynn brings more than two decades of experience advancing transportation, infrastructure, and urban development projects across New York City and the country, spanning senior leadership roles in both city government and the private sector.

Most recently, Flynn led the New York office of TYLin City Solutions (formerly Sam Schwartz Engineering), where he supported teams of engineers, planners, designers, and community outreach specialists working across disciplines to solve complex transportation, development, and infrastructure challenges throughout the New York City region. As Vice President and Sector Manager for New York and the Northeast, Flynn oversaw major projects at the intersection of mobility, land use, and public space.

Previously, Flynn spent nearly a decade at NYC DOT, where he held leadership roles including Director of Capital Planning and Project Initiation. In that position, he helped oversee the planning and delivery of major capital projects across the city, including street reconstruction, transit and resiliency projects, and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. Earlier at NYC DOT, Flynn worked on pedestrian and bicycle programs and transportation planning initiatives that helped reshape how New Yorkers move through the city, including leading the development of the City's first Street Design Manual.

In addition to his work in government and the private sector, Flynn served for nearly eight years as a Visiting Professor in Pratt Institute's Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development, where he taught courses focused on urban planning, transportation, and sustainable city design.

He holds a Master of Science in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute and a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from the University of Vermont.