Happy Memorial Day Weekend (With Gusto This Time)

The full transformation will take a few months to set up, but come Memorial Day, pedestrians will finally have some breathing room at Times Square.

When Memorial Day weekend rolls around, here at Streetsblog we usually take the opportunity to note the advent of the summer driving season — and all the waste and violence that entails. This year’s going to be a little different, because we’ve got a major livable streets milestone to celebrate in New York City.

With all those cars headed out of town, DOT is going to re-route traffic at Times Square around Broadway and onto Seventh Avenue. Come Memorial Day morning, New York City will have brand new public spaces carved out of the street, smack in the middle of Midtown. If you’re staying in the city for the long weekend, it’s time to party.

The Times Square Alliance will be out bright and early Monday setting up beach chairs. Virgil’s Barbecue will be firing up the grill. At some point, a giant movie screen will get unfurled for a noon showing of “On the Town” (it’s the last day of Fleet Week, folks). I suspect that I won’t be the only New Yorker heading over to Times Square for the first time in ages.

So, this year we’re not holding anything back: Happy Memorial Day weekend! We’ll see you back here on Tuesday.