Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Car-Free Parks

Prospect Park’s West Drive Is Now Permanently Car-Free

5:29 PM EDT on July 6, 2015

Photo: Ben Fried
Photo: Ben Fried

A week after Central Park went mostly car-free, today marked the beginning of the permanent car-free zone on the west side of Prospect Park [PDF].

Leading up to today, the traffic shortcuts through Prospect Park had been gradually winnowed down to one lane on the west side during the evening rush and one lane on the east side during the morning rush, thanks to persistent advocacy. Campaigns in 2008 and 2002 each collected 10,000 signatures in support of a car-free park.

Before the de Blasio administration made the West Drive car-free, the most recent victory was a 2012 road diet that expanded space for pedestrians and cyclists on the park loop. Before that, the city closed the 3rd Street entrance to cars in 2009.

The job's still not done as long as the park's East Drive, which is closer to the less affluent neighborhoods on the east side of the park, continues to be a shortcut for car commuters on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. DOT says it is concerned that higher traffic volumes on the East Drive would lead to congestion in nearby neighborhoods if the park were made completely car-free.

Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, who marked the occasion this morning by walking her two beagles to a press conference in the park, said a permanently car-free East Drive could happen "at some point in the coming years."

"Car traffic has continued to go down," she told WNYC. "So we've done it in stages and we may be back again for the final phase."

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Bus Advocates Target Anti-Busway ‘Hypocrites’ at Bronx Zoo and Botanical Garden

A petition drive by Bronx bus riders calls out the institutions for boosting transit on their websites, but then trying to undermine it in the real world.

June 9, 2023

‘Duped’: A Harlem 20-Something Blows the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business

Kareem found out the hard way that his Craigslist gig delivering temp tags was illegal. Now he's exposing the operation that employed him, revealing clues about his anonymous bosses that all trace back to the same place.

June 9, 2023

Day 3: These Hunger Strikers aren’t Paid Lobbyists — But Albany Can’t Tell the Difference

ALBANY — “They are putting every barrier in our way to not have to face us directly and  look us in the eye and then make an unconscionable decision. This is Albany at its worst,” said Amy Cohen. 

June 8, 2023

Manhattan Pol Wants OMNY to Work With Citi Bike

Citi Bike could become even more popular if the MTA figured out a way to integrate it with the OMNY pay system.

June 8, 2023
See all posts