Eyes on the Street: Ped Plaza/Bike-Share Hub Takes Shape at Grand Central

By Stephen Miller
May 10, 2013

Across the street from Grand Central, a new pedestrian plaza is being installed this afternoon. Jonny Hamilton, who works nearby, snapped this short video of DOT workers laying down the new surface at Pershing Square between 42nd and 41st Streets, on the east side of the Park Avenue viaduct.

Once the plaza is installed, the block will also receive two bike-share stations with 59 docks each, making it the city’s biggest bike-share hub.

An airport bus stop was relocated to accommodate the plaza and bike-share stations, “turning that street essentially into a bike-share plaza that would really allow it to be a gateway to Grand Central,” DOT’s Kate Fillin-Yeh said at a bike-share planning meeting with Community Board 5 last year.

On the other side of the viaduct, Hamilton said the southbound block of Park Avenue didn’t get attention from DOT crews today, but it will soon: a plaza plan in the works for that block since 1987 is scheduled to begin construction next year. The space will be managed by the Grand Central Partnership business improvement district.

Update 6:00 p.m.: A photo from Peter W. Beadle shows that plaza is done and components for the bike-share station installation have arrived by truck:

Just hours after DOT put down a gravel epoxy plaza surface, the city's largest bike-share stations are about to be installed at Pershing Square. Photo: ##https://twitter.com/pwbnyc/status/332977218458370048/photo/1##Peter W. Beadle/Twitter##

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