Results tagged “carfree”

Yesterday was a gorgeous day to kick off the 2009's season of Summer Streets, the three-Saturday event that closes down a 6.9 mile stretch of roads—along Park Avenue and other connecting streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park—to vehicular traffic. As part of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the New York, the Dutch consulate's NY400 celebration has 150 orange bikes that bicyclists can rent for free—there's even a photo competition for people to enter and win one of the bikes (details here).

The new, car-free Broadway blocks of Times Square are still being appraised by pedestrians, drivers, and pundits alike. But one thing they can all agree on: It's quite a sight. On Panoramas.dk, there's a 360-degree image taken from Duffy Square (on top of the new TKTS proscenium) by Jook Leung—check it out here (the above image doesn't do it justice). Update: As eagle-eyed readers noticed, this panorama looks like it was taken before the car-ban went into effect but it was taken on Sunday (here's another shot from Sunday); from the TKTS steps, it looks like this on Memorial Day.

Today is the second of three Summer Streets Saturdays, where the city shuts down about seven miles of streets (from the Brooklyn Bridge to to 72nd Street and Park) for people to bike, stroll, and participate in activities along the way. After last weekend's first try, most of our readers (66%) think it's a terrific program--see some of the great photos here--while 23% think it could be better with some tweaking--perhaps more understanding of bicyclists' and pedestrians' space is needed.

The first Summer StreetsSaturday took place over the weekend, with the city barring motor vehicles from 6.9 miles of streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 72nd Street and Central Park. Cyclists and pedestrians reveled in the car-free oasis as the vehicular traffic was replaced by music, dance, yoga and other exercise classes from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. But some drivers, retailers and garage owners were less enthused. Mark Barbosa, a manager of Manhattan Cabinetry near East 30th Street, tells the Post that his sales "dipped 50 to 60 percent compared to a typical Saturday," due to the auto ban. Food vendors, on the other hand, were raking it in.

The first Summer Streets Saturday, where the city closed 7 miles of Manhattan streets (between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.) to create a vehicle-free boulevard for people to stroll, bicycle, and and just enjoy, seems to be a big hit. Of course there were complaints from drivers trying to make their way around.

Starting tomorrow, seven miles of streets in Manhattan will be closed to vehicular traffic between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. for three Saturdays. In the place of cars and trucks, the city is letting people stroll or bike (there's bike sharing)--or take part in many organized activities, like tai-chi, salsa dancing and hopscotch. The program, Summer Streets, will be open from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park along Lafayette Street, 4th Avenue, Park Avenue and 72nd Street.

The city's Summer Streets program, which will transform seven miles of Manhattan streets (from Centre Street to Lafayette Street to Fourth Avenue to Park Avenue, up to East 72nd) into car-free boulevards for three Saturdays, letting people walk, cycle, dance and much more, start this Saturday at 7 a.m. The streets will be vehicle-free until 1 p.m.

The Department of Transportation announced that Central Park's West Drive will be car free until 8AM starting on Monday, August 6. Per the DOT's press release, via Streetsblog:

Beginning Monday, August 6th, the West Drive of Central Park between Lenox Avenue and the 7th Avenue Exit will be closed to motor vehicles for an additional hour (7-8am) during the morning peak period. Currently, the West Drive is open to motor vehicles between the hours of 7-10am and operates as an HOV 2+ only roadway. With this change, the West Drive will be open to motor vehicles between the hours of 8-10am only and will continue to operate as an HOV 2+ roadway. This additional hour of closure of the West Drive to motor vehicles provides an additional hour of conflict-free recreational use during the early morning hours.

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan cites how Central Park is "busy in the mornings with walkers, joggers and cyclists," but there's no mention of the walkers, joggers and cyclists in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, as there were no improvements mentioned for it. Central Park's East Drive is open during the afternoons and early evenings (3-7PM) while East Drive from Sixth Avenue to 72nd and Fifth is open between 7AM and 7PM.