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Pedestrians Only On Broadway, Please!

February 26, 2009 at 10:17 AM | by | Comments (3)

New York's Mayor Bloomberg's war on cars continues: His promise of congestion pricing has not come through yet, but his new proposal to close stretches of Broadway to traffic is designed to infuriate city drivers -- and delight the rest of us.

Bloomie announced today that beginning Memorial Day, the Great White Way will be closed to all cars between 42nd and 47th streets (the heart of Times Square) and 32nd to 35th streets (Herald Square). These spaces will become "pedestrian plazas," with traffic diverted to Sixth or Seventh Avenue, for the rest of the year.

Cabbies who love taking tourists 10 traffic-choked blocks hate the plan, but we're willing to give it a shot. The sidewalks along those parts of Broadway are so packed most days that one slow-moving rank of visitors can bring a pack of tourists to a standstill.

The move echoes last summer's plan to close Park Avenue for three Saturdays last August, which would have made for a pleasant stroll except for the bikers who also reveled in the stretch of pavement for a race. But five blocks isn't much of a bike ride.

Related Stories:
· Broadway Cars Can Take A Walk [NY Post]
· 2008: City Will Close Five Miles of Manhattan Road [NY Sun]
· New York City: Partly Cloudy With A Chance of Markdowns [Jaunted]

[Photo: fischbob]

Comments (3)

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This is so AWESOME!

....yeah blooomberg! maybe he can ban the tourists too while he's at it? :)
BS on February 26, 2009 at 10:31 AM #Permalink

SCORE

I avoid walking through Times Square at all costs...when I see the lights ahead, I abruptly make a turn to overshoot it. Now, perhaps, it may be worth checking out. At least for some pretzels.
JetSetCD on February 26, 2009 at 12:37 PM #Permalink

Hope it works.

I am hoping that this is not some sneaky way for my Mayor to reintroduce his congestion traffic plan from 2007. But do we need more people in Time Square? Ugh...just a big conglomerate of rubes snapping pics and staring up at billboards.
brooklynnomad on March 3, 2009 at 1:06 AM #Permalink

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