The Car-Free Central Park Victory Lap

For about eight more weeks, drivers can still use parts of the Central Park loop as a traffic shortcut. Then, on June 27, that’s it, the exhaust spewers need to clear out.

Would it be nice to enjoy a car-free park a little sooner, during these mild spring days full of flowering trees? Sure. But this interim period at least gives us some time to let the enormity of the 50-year campaign to get cars out of Central Park sink in — and to boo lustily at the people who are still driving on the park loop, knowing their days are numbered.

This morning, car-free park advocates went out with Council Member Helen Rosenthal for a victory lap. Or, as indefatigable advocate Ken Coughlin called it, the last protest ride for a car-free Central Park.

Clarence, of course, was there to capture the vibe.

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Celebration of the Extra Car-Free Hour in Central Park

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Please join Transportation Alternatives and Upper Green Side as they celebrate the inauguration of the extra morning car-free hour in Central Park. They’ll revel in the new car-free time and renewing the call for a loop road that is totally free of traffic. They’ll have car-free Central Park signs to wave and possibly a few […]

T.A.: Car-Free Central Park Would Ease Neighborhood Congestion

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A study released this week by Transportation Alternatives undercuts the claim that closing Central Park’s loop drive to cars would increase traffic on the streets of Harlem. To the contrary, findings indicate that loop entrances on 110th street at Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevards "act as traffic magnets," drawing vehicles onto neighborhood streets […]
Central Park should not be a taxi shortcut. Photo: Simon Alexander Jacob/Flickr

Saturday: Ride for Car-Free Central Park

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A car-free Central Park is a popular cause, and advocates have made a lot of progress, but the job's not done yet. Below 72nd Street, car traffic still roars on the West Drive and Terrace Drive on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. The Center/East Drive between 6th Avenue and Park South and East 72nd Street is a motor vehicle shortcut on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.