Starting Sunday, vehicles will be barred from the legendary roadway in Times Square and Herald Square as it is transformed into a pedestrian-only area with a food festival, an outdoor yoga studio and a kickball arena.
All traffic will be diverted from Broadway between 47th and 42nd streets and between 35th and 33rd streets, said Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.
Drivers will have to move to Seventh or Ninth avenues to get downtown.
It’s all part of a $1.5 million plan to turn sections of Broadway into massive pedestrian plazas, a plan that Mayor Bloomberg said will ease the grueling traffic bottlenecks that happen near major intersections.
Construction on the Times Square plazas will be done by Aug. 16, and Herald Square will be finished Aug. 23, officials said.
The plan is causing a divide among business owners.
A manager at Grand Slam, a trinkets store on Broadway, said he thinks the increased foot traffic will bring him more customers.
But store owners on the Seventh Avenue side said the increased car traffic and sinking economy might tank their business.
(Source: NY Post)
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One Response
Ah yes, it is easy to see how closing major thoroughfares will help alleviate Manhattan’s congestion problem. And pedestrian plazas will do wonders for the economy, costing millions to install without actually generating revenue (unless — is it even possible to draw more consumers to that area than there already are?!)
Bravo, Bloomberg. Another bloomin’ brainstorm.