DOT Expands Car-Free Time in Central Park by One Hour

5:34 PM EDT on July 30, 2007

The Dept. of Transportation is announcing that it will add one additional hour of car-free time to Central Park's West Drive during morning rush hour starting Monday, August 6. No incremental improvements have been announced for Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Here is DOT's announcement:

Beginning Monday, August 6th, theWestDrive of CentralPark between LenoxAvenue and the 7th Avenue Exit will be closed to motorvehicles for an additional hour (7-8am) during the morning peak period. Currently, the WestDrive is open to motor vehicles between the hours of7-10am and operates as an HOV 2+ only roadway. With this change, theWestDrive will be open to motor vehicles between thehours of 8-10am only and will continue to operate as an HOV 2+ roadway. Thisadditional hour of closure of the West Drive to motor vehicles provides anadditional hour of conflict-free recreational use during the early morninghours.

It's nice to see progress but if this is a symbolic step to a "Greater, Greener New York," it sure is a small one.

Photo: Lenox Ave. entrance, Sunday night

Aaron Naparstek

@naparstek.bsky.social

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.

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