Adams touts plan to ‘reimagine’ NYC’s Fifth Avenue with bike lane, more pedestrian space
City Hall has a plan to “reimagine” stretches of Fifth Avenue between Bryant Park and Central Park to make them more people-and-bicycle friendly.
Under an ambitious proposal from Mayor Eric Adams introduced Sunday, Fifth Avenue would lose multiple lanes of car traffic to make way for a bike lane and added pedestrian space.
“Fifth Avenue is … an unmissable opportunity to show the city and the country how world-class public space can help create vibrant central business districts,” Adams said in a statement.
The vague proposal — to be fleshed out in a consultant-run “visioning process” — would leave just one lane for cars on the strip between Central Park South and 42nd Street, with the rest of the street devoted to two bus lanes, a protected bike lane and pedestrian space.
The final product, with an expected finish within two years, will be a “pedestrian-centered boulevard,” according to a City Hall press release.
Fifth Avenue in Midtown went completely car-free on three Sundays in December to make room for massive crowds of holiday shoppers.
City officials claimed victory with the first-time holiday closure — despite complaints from cabbies that the policy made it harder for them to pick up fares.
The city’s lead agencies — the Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Transportation — are expecting to contract with a design firm to begin the process in early 2023.