Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Car-Free Streets

NYC Needs a Car-Free 14th Street When the L Closes — And When It Returns

By David Meyer | Jun 23, 2016 | 20 Comments

In 2019, the L train west of Williamsburg will be shut down so the MTA can repair Sandy-related damage to subway tunnels under the East River. Hundreds of thousands of people will have to find other ways to get around, and there’s no conceivable way to do that without dedicating a lot of street space […]

New Twist for Summer Streets This Year — A Low-Car Zone Way Downtown

By David Meyer | Jun 16, 2016 | 12 Comments

In addition to the customary three Saturdays of car-free streets on Park Avenue and Lafayette Street this summer, the city will be trying out something new for Summer Streets. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on August 13, car traffic will be limited within a 60-block area of the Financial District. The 13th will be the […]

Car-Free “Boogie on the Boulevard” Opens Up the Grand Concourse for Play

By David Meyer | May 31, 2016 | 9 Comments

Sunday marked the first car-free “Boogie on the Boulevard” of 2016, and for a few hours on a few blocks, the center lanes of the Grand Concourse were full of people. From May through August this year, on the last Sunday of each month, a few blocks of the Concourse north of 162nd Street will be a […]

Car-Free Day Doesn’t Mean Much Without New Policies to Reduce Traffic

By Ben Fried | Apr 28, 2016 | 16 Comments

New York City is America’s car-free capital, home to eight and half million people, most of whom get around without owning a car. When so many of us already live car-free, what more can come out of an event like last Friday’s Car-Free Day? There are basically two ways an awareness-raising event like Car-Free Day can go. It can […]

Scenes From NYC’s First “Car Free Day”

By David Meyer | Apr 22, 2016 | 77 Comments

New York City’s first “Car Free Day,” the brainchild of City Council Transportation Chair Ydanis Rodriguez, is underway. On the streets, there are three car-free zones in Manhattan in effect from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: blocks abutting Washington Square Park, Wadsworth Avenue between 173rd and 177th Streets, and Broadway from Union Square to Madison Square. While the […]

Three Pieces of the Manhattan Grid Will Go Car-Free on Earth Day

By David Meyer | Mar 16, 2016 | 4 Comments

New York will create three car-free zones on Earth Day, April 22, as part of an initiative called “Car Free NYC” announced by City Council Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez this morning. The car-free areas will be Broadway from the Flatiron Building to Union Square, the streets surrounding Washington Square Park, and Wadsworth Avenue between […]

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