Broadway to be Closed to Motor Vehicles For Seven Blocks

Coming soon to Times Square and Herald Square: Vehicle-free Broadway! Starting on Memorial Day, two stretches of Broadway, from 42nd to 47th streets and from 32nd to 35th streets, will transformed into pedestrian plazas in an experiment that will last through the end of the year and may become permanent, the Post reports. Mayor Bloomberg is expected to announce the plan today, and promise that the change will actually improve the overall traffic flow, because Broadway disrupts traffic where it intersects with other streets. As part of the changes, Seventh Avenue will be widened from three to four lanes at 45th Street.

An unnamed official tells the Post, "The big winner here is Sixth Avenue. When you go up through the 20s, you hit a wall at Herald Square. There's a 90-second traffic signal. Broadway gets 30 seconds. Sixth Avenue gets 30 seconds and 34th Street gets 30 seconds. When this change is made, Sixth Avenue might have 55 seconds [for motorists to zoom cross 34th Street]." Just think what you could do with all those extra seconds!

Transportation expert Jeffrey Zupan tells the Times, "The lower the volume is on Broadway—or if you eliminate it altogether—then traffic is going to move better. The win-win is that the space that you’re freeing up will be used by pedestrians." According to the Post, a similar proposal was shot down by Macy's in the 1980s because executives feared the pedestrian islands would be overtaken by the homeless. The unnamed official promises, "Macy's is on board this time, and the homeless aren't really an issue now."

Last summer the city changed part of Broadway from 42nd Street to 35th Street from a four-lane into a two-lane street, creating a promenade for pedestrians and cyclists, with tables, chairs and planters. The new plan will have a similar look, but with the entire street at pedestrians' disposal. And Bloomberg may also create another partial promenade from 47th Street north to Columbus Circle. And after that, the world!