Busy stretch of NYC's 5th Avenue to go car-free on 3 Sundays as holiday crowds return
Nov. 22, 2022, 2:08 p.m.
The traffic changes come as city officials brace for the largest holiday crowds in Midtown since the pandemic hit.
A stretch of Fifth Avenue in Midtown will close to traffic on three Sundays in December in an effort to create more pedestrian space during the busy holiday shopping and tourist season.
Cars will be banned along the thoroughfare between 48th and 57th streets from noon to 6 p.m. on Dec. 4, and will continue on Dec. 11 and 18.
As the city's Department of Transportation has done in previous years, it will place movable barriers on streets around Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall.
“We expect that New York City this December will see the largest crowds since the pandemic began,” said Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “Creating more space for pedestrians around Rockefeller Center will keep people safe while minimizing disruption to the rest of the city.”
City officials said all crosstown buses impacted by the changes will be rerouted while the open street is in effect, while bus routes that roll along Fifth Avenue will skip stops between 48th and 52nd streets.
When former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2019 barred cars from a smaller portion of Fifth Avenue during the holiday season, then-NYC Transit President Andy Byford complained that the city’s plan “gives no priority to MTA buses and ignores the needs of bus customers.”
“This unilateral decision flies in the face of the work that the MTA has done with NYC DOT to speed up bus times, decrease dwell times and increase ridership across our system,” Byford wrote at the time.
NYC Transit chief operating officer Craig Cipriano said the agency is "working to create a plan that mitigates the impact to New Yorkers who rely on buses to get where they need to go" during this year's closure. He said the agency aims to "preserve a dedicated safe bus travel lane on Fifth Avenue throughout the holidays."
The announcement comes as traffic expert “Gridlock” Sam recommends anyone going to Midtown during the holiday season take mass transit.
“Car-free Fifth Avenue will give visitors, tourists, shoppers, workers, and residents much-needed space to live, work, shop and play,” Danny Harris, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, wrote in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with city leaders to Open Streets to more places across the city.”