Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Car-Free Parks

In Flushing Meadows, Parking Encroaches on Queens Park Space

By Noah Kazis | Aug 1, 2012 | 4 Comments

When New York City played host to the 1939 World’s Fair, the most influential attraction in Flushing Meadows was General Motors’ Futurama, a miniature vision of a future with highways crisscrossing through cities and mass ownership of the personal automobile. A science fiction vision at the time, it wasn’t far off from what ultimately happened. […]

Now You Can Bike Both Ways Across Central Park on 72nd Street

By Ben Fried | Jun 28, 2012 | 16 Comments

The two-way, buffered bike lane across Central Park on 72nd Street is rounding into form, with most but not all of the markings in place, readers tell us. The path is rideable in both directions, adding a critical piece of east-west connectivity to the bike network. Reader Heidi Untener sends this pic from a recent […]

STREETFILMS

Making History: 2004 Car-Free Central Park Film Chosen for MCNY Exhibit

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | May 3, 2012 | No Comments

In the midst of a 2004 petition drive and campaign, Transportation Alternatives hired me to produce a mini-film called “The Case for a Car-Free Central Park.” It featured interviews with many prominent New Yorkers, like Columbia professor Ken Jackson and author Roberta Brandes Gratz, along with dozens of everyday park-goers testifying about how they felt […]

Eyes on the Street: Prospect Park Road Diet in Action

By Ben Fried | Apr 27, 2012 | 13 Comments

As first documented by @noahbudnick, the section of the Prospect Park loop south of the lake has had new markings (and a smooth, fresh surface) for a few weeks. On this section you can experience the more spacious 24/7 accommodations for walkers, joggers, and cyclists that will soon expand to the rest of the loop. […]

Two-Way Bike Lane Will Cross Central Park Along 72nd Street

By Noah Kazis | Mar 20, 2012 | 22 Comments

This summer, cyclists will have a second path to safely cross Central Park. At a meeting of CB 7’s Parks Committee last night, Central Park Conservancy President Doug Blonsky announced that the Department of Transportation will paint a new two-way bike lane along 72nd Street all the way between Central Park West and Fifth Avenue, […]

Prospect Park Users: Thanks for the Road Diet, Now Let’s Make It Car-Free

By Noah Kazis | Feb 29, 2012 | 16 Comments

Brooklynites like the idea of reducing the number of motor vehicle lanes cutting through Prospect Park from two to one. They’d like zero even better. A crowd of roughly 150 gathered in the Prospect Park Picnic House last night to hear a proposal from the Prospect Park Alliance’s road sharing task force. As reported yesterday, the […]

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