Last spring, some West Side residents came out against the city's plan to ban vehicular traffic on Broadway at Times and Herald Squares, fearing the diversion of southbound traffic onto Ninth Ave. would exacerbate congestion there.

Five months after the full implementation of the plan, however, an informal survey found the merchants and residents most affected have noted little or no impact on traffic in the surrounding areas.

Kathleen Treat, chairperson of the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association, said the traffic on Ninth Ave. is "abominable," but not noticeably worse.

"I don't think we've seen a visible change," added Christine Berthet, co-chair of Community Board 4's transportation committee, which hasn't received any complaints thus far.

"The traffic on Ninth Ave. is always horrific, regardless," observed Mark Maclean, as he walked his dog along the avenue in the 40s.

In and around the newly created Times Square pedestrian plaza, many people think the elimination of cars is an improvement.

"I think it's better," said Carrie Sampson, who works Downtown. "It offers people a place to sit. Right now, it's cold, so it doesn't feel as great because there's nobody sitting there and making use of it. But overall, I think it's helped the traffic, and it gives people a place in Midtown to hang out. Good for tourism."

Shirley Charlton, visiting from England, said "pedestrian-izing" is "a brilliant idea so everybody can walk freely and you can take photographs and have coffee." Her companion added, "They do that in London."

Still, others are not convinced.

A man rushing to work said things in Times Square seem to be better, but "you gotta watch out when you cross the street, because there's less traffic and you're not sure where it's coming from."

Others with commercial interests in the area are also less enthusiastic, depending on their business. An owner of several larger nearby properties, who works in the neighborhood but declined to give his name, said there is potential danger in the new design. "People walk around wherever they please," the person said. "There's a tragedy waiting to happen to people waiting at the discount-tickets booth. They can step off into Seventh Ave. and get killed."

Pedestrians cross the street randomly, the property owner explained, because there are no wrought-iron barriers as at other busy intersections in Manhattan. The person also noticed "a lot of east-west congestion" between 44th and 47th Sts., all the way up to 57th St.

Stan O'Connor is a "green" tour guide who operates a pedicab. In late November, pedicabs were banned from bike lanes, and now he's constrained to pedal alongside cars, which forces him to slow down traffic. "I don't see any benefit for myself or for pedicab drivers," he said. "There is no bike lane on Broadway. The pedestrians have the whole thing. The bike lane goes to Seventh Ave., and it's OK, but it's not great."

Raj Sikder, manager of the Raj Delicatessen on the corner of 47th St. and Broadway, has noticed a drop in his business, though he doesn't attribute it solely to the new traffic pattern. The economic recession hit at the same time cars were removed from Broadway, he noted, so both factors must be taken into account.

At 44th St. and Broadway, Tarek Abdel Meguida said business at his hot dog stand has been "very slow for two years now."

Yet others have clearly benefited.

"I've seen some [business] going down," said Patrick Grant, who carries a sign directing people to a nearby comedy club. "But that was happening before they even closed [the street to traffic], with the economy going south. There's more people walking because now they have a pedestrian walkway, so they're not all crammed onto the sidewalk. Later at night it's easier," he explained, because some of the vendors who occupy sidewalk space are gone. "For us it's better," Grant added. "People can read my sign and walk over."

Angel Martinez, who works at the Sunglass Hut in Times Square, likes the new arrangement. Business is better, he said, because "There's more [foot] traffic, less cars. It opens up traffic flow for the tourists to walk around better."

Area business and civic organizations are awaiting a report with the results of a comprehensive study by the Department of Transportation regarding the project.

The study, done in conjunction with the mayor's office, will analyze traffic and pedestrian volumes, traffic speeds, injuries and fatalities since the project's completion in August. The report is expected this month, though the DOT is still soliciting feedback on the project on its Web site.

The Times Square Alliance, the local business improvement district (BID), has nearly completed its own survey of people's reactions to the pedestrian walkway and its effect on traffic and business. Alliance president Tim Tompkins said his organization queried people who work at Times Square, New Yorkers in general, tri-state residents, individual storeowners and property owners. The study should be ready within two weeks.

On the other hand, Jerome Barth of the 34th Street Partnership, another local BID, didn't hesitate in calling the project "extremely positive for the neighborhood." He said it has improved traffic on Sixth Ave. and 34th St. at Herald Square, as well as pedestrian safety. "It's definitely led to people spending more time outdoors," and "it's brought down noise quite a bit," Barth said. "We see only positives, and we hope that City Hall will decide to continue the program."

The Broadway League, an association of producers and theater owners, is more measured in its approval. "The test has been fairly successful," executive director Charlotte St. Martin said in an e-mail.

But the opinion of the membership is not unanimous. "The success of the long-term closure would be dependent on their continuing with traffic supervision on the side streets," St. Martin noted. "As long as our theater-goers are not inconvenienced, we want to be part of the solution and would like to be in the loop with any changes to the structure of this change."

Wiley Norvell, communications director for the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, has only anecdotal evidence pointing to the effectiveness of the conversion. He, too, is awaiting the city's report, and said that "similar experiments in other areas make streets significantly safer, with fewer injuries among pedestrians and cyclists." Regarding traffic management, he characterized the mayor's plan as "really an elegant move to tame Midtown congestion."

Norvell isn't surprised that the habitués of Ninth Ave. notice no significant change in the traffic flow on that thoroughfare, contrary to their expectations. "There's a long-standing public perception that traffic's like water--that when you dam it up in one place, it reappears one or two blocks over," he said. "New York City has actually proved that false, time and time again."

Norvell cited the collapse of the West Side Highway and the closing of Fifth Ave. through Washington Square Park in the '50s, neither of which caused a major change in traffic volume on nearby streets.

"I think the quality of the public space in Times Square and Herald Square is substantially better than it ever has been," Norvell continued. "There's so much more room to breathe for pedestrians. In places where pedestrians would literally be pushed into the street because there was so little room on the sidewalk, we're seeing a much more convivial and world-class public space taking shape.